Don't Meddle With Love
by georginacastleorpington
Summary: Put blind cupid's arrow and a couple of ageing love potions together and what do you get? A complete mess! NextGen.
1. Goodbyes, prefects and exploding snap

**ONE**

"Have a good term! We'll see you at Christmas," my mum said, pulling me into a warm hug before holding me at arm's length and examining my freckle-coated face. "No misbehaving. I don't want a letter from McGonagall any more than you want detention." I smiled back at her and rolled my eyes. She says the same thing to me and my brother every year before we set off. I gave her one last fleeting hug and turned to my dad.

"I'm going to miss you," he said with a sad smile, giving me a quick hug.

As soon as I'd pulled away, Hugo ruffled my hair (ever since he grew taller than me in the summer of 3rd year, he has continuously ruffled my hair. Only when we're at home though – he knows full well I will hex him if he tries anything of the sort at school). He turned to our dad. "Hey, no worries dad, me and Al will send you a Hogwart's toilet seat!"

I gave him a stern disapproving look. "No you will not!"

He put his hands up in the air with a defeated grin. "Alrightie, Miss Prefect." I know. Miss Prefect. The oh-so-original nickname he came up with when I was given the title at the beginning of fifth year. Hugo has never really been one for rule-following, so he likes to tease me about it as much as he can. If mum ever catches him though she makes him wash up, without magic obviously.

And then reminds him that's its better to be a prefect than to be grounded for eternity, like he's going to be if he carries on teasing his sister.

Unfortunately, mum was too busy fretting about us only having one minute to get on the train to notice Hugo being his normal irritating self.

"Rose, the train's leaving in less than a minute…" she was saying in panic.

"Okay, I'm going!" I replied and picked up the handle of my trunk and started to drag it towards the train. Merlin, this thing was heavy. Mum turned to dad with an exasperated look. He was leaning up against a pillar with his arm's folded, deep in conversation with Uncle Harry. "Ronald!" I heard mum say, "Go help your daughter!" Dad rolled his eyes and winked at me. I grinned back, mouthed that I was fine, and tried to heave my trunk onto the train. Suddenly, someone came next to me and lifted up with apparent ease onto the floor of the train.

"Thanks," I said hurriedly, pushing a few stray strands of auburn hair out of my eyes, and looking up. My eyes immediately fell on the aristocratic face of one Scorpius Malfoy.

Who was, wait for it, _smiling_. Well, he was smiling for about a second then, before my face could register horror at that fact that Malfoy could actually smile, he had adopted his most hideous sneer.

"Oh, it's you."

"Lovely to see you too," I replied with a false cheery voice. He just carried on sneering, and then without any sort of reply pushed past me onto the train and vanished into the hordes of students that were blocking the corridors. Insufferable jerk, I thought angrily as I jumped onto the train and began to lug my huge trunk towards the compartment that Al and Tess, my other best friend, had snagged for us. Tess and I had been best friends since the train journey in the first year. I had planned all summer for me and Al to hang out on the train journey, but since he decided to drop a dungbomb on my head on August 31st I wasn't exactly in the best of moods with him, so I'd found the first compartment which had someone who looked new and vaguely friendly and plonked myself down. Luckily for me I'd found myself in the company of Tess, a muggle-born with the best sense of humour and particular skill with sarcasm. Once Al had been man enough to apologise for making me smell so much I needed to have about 50 showers, Tess and I let him hang out with us, and the rest, they say, is history.

After wandering through three carriages and peering through every single compartment door, I finally found Al and Tess who were setting up for their traditional exploding snap competition. It was the only time of year they ever played as they did tend to get quite…violent, shall we say. Particularly the losing person, who took it upon themselves to play a prank on the winning person.

Needless to say, spending your first day back at school comforting your best friend who is worried that their hair is going to stay electric blue forever is not really that great. Though I have to say, an excellent spell on Al's part.

Not that I would ever tell Tess that.

Once my trunk was safely stowed away on the luggage rack, I sat down and put my feet up on the chair in front of me to watch the exploding snap game. The view out of the window was whizzing past, and we were safely out of London before Al deemed the game to be ready. He had spent the past five minutes announcing the 'rules'. Such as, should he win, there was to be no pranking. As if Tess would abide by that rule. And, as if Al would actually win. He is pathetic.

"Don't you have the prefect meeting?" Al asked.

Crap. I had completely forgotten about that. "Oh yeah! Gotta go guys. I'll see you in a couple of hours!" I said, as I shoved my wand into my jeans pocket and sprinted out of the compartment into the corridor.

I made it to the prefect compartment just on time. The meeting had started late because the Head Boy and Girl had to sort out a couple of third years who had taken it upon themselves to have a fist fight. They already had detention, which I think is somewhat of a record.

As I walked through the door, I noticed the other Gryffindor prefect, Max Wood aka. Vision Of Perfection, had an empty chair next to it.

I smiled to myself and dropped into it, my heart hammering away.

I turned to him and gave him a friendly smile. He raised both eyebrows and continued staring out of the window at the fields of cows that were shooting past.

Max Wood is a hot topic of conversation for pretty much every single girl at Hogwarts. He is literally perfection. His face his handsomely chiseled and his flawless cheekbones are framed by several inches of wavy dark blonde hair. As if that isn't enough, he has these navy blue eyes which just scream seduction at any girl who looks in them too much. He has a tall, muscular frame, with a six pack produced from years of Quidditch, and don't get me started on his amazing biceps.

And he has every girl he could ever want.

Which pretty much means I have absolutely no chance whatsoever.

It's not like I'm ugly, I'm just not amazingly pretty and everyone knows that Wood only dates completely gorgeous girls.

If only…Who am I kidding? There is no way he would date a geeky, short girl like me.

But that doesn't mean I can't admire his perfection. Otherwise this meeting would be pretty boring. Don't get me wrong, I love being a prefect, but seriously, we have the _same_ talk every single year.

It tends to get kind of tiresome when you've heard it once already.

"So, we'll just partner up with the prefect in the same house and year as us for the first term. We can always change after Christmas. Is that Ok with everyone?" the Head Girl said with a smile at everyone. She got a couple of nods back, and she quickly scribbled something down on a notepad.

Result! I get to do rounds with The Vision. I smiled to myself as the Head Boy stood up and adjusted his shirt, ready to leave.

"Sixth years, you're on corridor patrol first," he said to everyone. I gave him a nod and a smile back then we all filed out of the room. I waited for Max to come out and gave him a quick friendly smile. He just blinked at me and ran a tan hand through his wavy locks.

"I'll do the first half of the train, and you do the other half, ok?" he said, looking at me wearily. I nodded, a little disappointed that I wouldn't be spending any more time with him, and we walked down the corridor in silence until we parted ways.

"Bye," I said, with a friendly tone.

"Laters," he replied.

_Laters_ – that means we'll probably see each other again, I told myself with a warm smile as I wandered down the corridor dodging the trolley lady.

Duh, Rose, you're doing patrol with him, of course you'll see him again, I reminded myself. I carried on traipsing down the corridors in trance-like state imagining the various ways that Max would ask me out until I noticed a second year prodding a first year with his wand and I launched into prefect mode.

After several hours of patrol, I finally returned to the compartment with Al and Tess. It seemed that Tess had won the exploding snap game and was regretting this as Al and Hugo, the prankster, were in hushed conversation. I think she was worried about what crazy prank Hugo would come up with.

My brother may be incapable of achieving good grades at school, but he sure has a quick mind for thinking up utterly embarrassing tricks to play on people, namely his relations, but occasionally he'll make exceptions.

This seems to be one of those times.

Poor Tess.

"Hey!" she said, looking relieved, when I came in. Al and Hugo looked up from their whispered plans quickly. Tess sent them both a death glare, which they didn't see. "How was the meeting and patrol and stuff?" she asked me as I sat down next to her and straightened my skirt.

"Pretty dull, but guess who my new patrol partner is?" I said, excited, with a grin spreading over my face from ear to ear.

"Well, you look pretty cheerful so I'm guessing its no one bad," she said with a quizzical frown.

"Obviously! It is…" I paused for dramatic effect.

"Tell girl!"

"Max Wood," I said, adopting a dreamy look.

"And that's _good_?" she said with a disgusted expression. I folded my arms and looked at her crossly. Tess has never seen the appeal in Max. She finds him obnoxious, and trust me I have tried to change her mind on this topic several times.

To no avail.

Tess is as stubborn as I am.

"Of course. He's like a model, Tess."

"Yeah, a model of complete jerk-ness." I glared at her. "Alright, I'll admit that he is good looking, but have you actually tried talking to him? It's like conversing with the rear end of a sheep."

"Maybe that's a bit harsh," I said with a giggle.

"No seriously, he was my Potions partner last year remember, and I honestly don't think he said anything in that year other than, 'Shall I stir it, then?'."

I thought back to the previous five years. She did have a point, not that I was going to admit that to her, he isn't really the world's best conversationalist.

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes in defeat.

Suddenly, Al tore his eyes away from his plans, took one look at Tess and both him and Hugo burst into fits of laughter.

How…mature.

To think I share the same gene pool as the both of them. I shivered in disgust.

Tess gave me a worried look.

"You want to go change?" I asked her. She nodded back and we quickly left the compartment before Hugo and Al wet their pants laughing at the outcome of their inevitably mean prank.

"What d'ya reckon their planning?" I asked Tess as soon as we'd changed in the train toilets. Which are gross by the way.

But it's that or changing in front of my cousins. I mean ewww.

"I dunno. No doubt it'll be embarrassing for me and hilarious for them if he's got Hugo onto it," she said miserably, straightening out the pleats on her skirt.

"I'm surprised Hugo's not in Slytherin actually, with all his sneaky traits," I wondered aloud.

"Nah. I mean he's sneaky but not _evil_," she replied.

By the time we had reached our compartment again Hugo had disappeared, probably to scheme some more with his creepy little friends, I thought, and Al had changed and was peering through the glass to catch a glimpse of the castle.

"We must be nearly there," he said in a frustrated tone, leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah, it's dark already," I agreed.

With a fuzz the tannoy system came to life:

"_All students to be changed, we will be arriving at Hogwarts shortly."_

"Finally. I am bloody starving!" Al said, rubbing his stomach dramatically. Tess rolled her eyes.

"You are going to be soooo fat when you're older, Mr Potter," she said with a grin. Al just grinned back.

"It's not like you skimp on your grub, Tess," I said laughing, and Tess punched me playfully in the arm.

"Hey, I need my nourishment. Otherwise I'll faint and you and Al will have to carry me to the Hospital Wing."

"I'm not carrying you, my arms would break," Al replied, kicking Tess' leg. She kicked his back.

"You wimp!"

At that moment, the compartment door slid slowly open, and standing in the entrance surveying the scene with a look of hilarity was Max. My heart started thumping erratically against my chest, and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.

I hate blushing. I swear it's a curse.

"Weasley, we need to sort out the first years," he announced, gazing down at me like I was a mildly interesting television programme. I returned his gaze marveling at his magnificent features.

I swear this guy's face was carved by the gods.

Or angels.

With a jerk that rattled the whole carriage, the train ground to a halt. I stood up and quickly flattened my hair.  
"Ok, let's go," I said nervously.

He gestured towards the door with a perfectly tan and manly hand.

"Ladies first."

I gave him a small smile to say thank you, and in return received a flash of his blinding white teeth.

He followed me down the corridor of the train, and we clambered off before there was the usual rush of first years eager to see the castle. I remember when I first saw it. I was truly amazed. When your sitting in those little boats and then you turn this corner, and then suddenly, you see the hugest castle you have ever set eyes on. I could totally relate to all these chattering 11 year olds that could hardly reach up to my elbow.

Which is saying something because I'm barely 5ft4.

I swear I was never that small.

"First years, head towards Hagrid please!" I announced commandingly to the new first years, pointing towards the gigantic silhouette in the darkness that was Hagrid.

"This way!" he bellowed and lead the fairly large group of 11 year olds to the edge of the lake to clamber into the boats. As I turned away to head towards the horseless carriages that took us to school I heard Hagrid say, "No pushing! Careful now, don't want to fall in, the Giant Squid'll get ya!"

Then I heard the several shocked gasps of the first years.

I giggled to myself and climbed into one of the carriages with Max to get to school.

It was only Max and I in the carriage, sitting in complete awkward silence. Thankfully, Max broke the silence.

"So, your friend Tess… she single?" I looked through the gloom at his profile.

"Yeah," I answered.

See what I mean? People like Max and people like me just don't date.

I don't blame him for falling for Tess. Out of the two of us she is definitely the prettier with her petite frame and long straight blonde hair.

Once again, the carriage fell into silence. And the whole journey I was thinking of the proximity of his foot to mine. If I moved my foot just an inch to the left it would touch his designer trainer.

I didn't move my foot though. Well, until we got to the entrance of the school obviously. We joined the throng of people making their way into the dinner hall and parted with a hurried 'Bye', before joining our separate tables: Max to the Slytherin one, and me to the Gryffindor.

I sat down in between Tess and Al who were bickering about the 'right' to prank someone, or something like that.

They argue about the strangest things.

Once the sorting began, they still continued their little fight in hushed whispers. Well, they did until I threatened them with detention if they didn't shut their fat gobs, as I could have sworn Trelawney was looking our way.

She was my least favourite teacher. As much as I love school, I despise Divination. Trelawney is just such a crazed old bat, making up rubbish that her students will die, or that they'll injure themselves battling a giant rattlesnake or something.

Tess adores her; apparently she's 'sweet'.

Although, Tess did shut up when I said Trelawney was watching so perhaps she's not sweet enough to let someone off detention for talking during the sorting.

Finally we got to the last one to be sorted, a tiny little boy with pretty cool dreadlocks – "Zabini, Orlando."

The little boy hurried to the stool and hastily shoved the hat firmly over his eyes. Just as the hat shouted 'SLYTHERIN' Tess leant over and said in my ear, "That's Leo Zabini's little brother. Leo is amazing! Way better than snobby Max."

"Leo's so shallow though." I replied. It was true. Although Max doesn't say much, what he does say can be interesting. One time we actually discussed the advantages of telephones over magic in muggle studies. He is clever, just…you know…he's just not a naturally bubbly and friendly person like, say, Tess.

I peered over at the Slytherin table where Leo was giving his brother a pat on the back. On Leo's other side was Ben Nott, who was idly staring at his fork, presumably waiting for dinner, and next to him was Malfoy.

Who was staring right over here.

My blue eyes locked with his steely grey ones for a millisecond, before I dragged them away and turned back to the table which was steadily filling with food.

I suppose I better fill you in on what Tess has dubbed 'The Malfoy Situation'. You see, contrary to popular belief, I don't actually hate him. I mean, I don't really like him that much, but that's only because he doesn't like me either.

We have mutual dislike for each other.

Maybe I should go back to beginning of the story. Malfoy and I used to be friends, as in fairly good friends. We both used to go to Defence Against the Dark Arts Club on Thursday afternoons, so we made friends and although we never used to really hang out outside the club, we were practically inseparable when we were in it.

We both quit near the end of fourth year though, due to a certain incident.

_May 23__rd__, Fourth Year_

"_Hey, shall I walk to your common room with you?" Malfoy asked me, with his usual excited grin. He only usually got that excited when he'd managed to perform some amazingly advanced spell._

_At DADA club, obviously. _

"_Sure, you better not infect the Gryffindor room with your slimy Slytherin germs," I said laughing._

"_I won't, ma'am!" he replied, and we hurried off down the corridor laughing. _

"_Personally, I think Gryffindors are the ones with all the germs…"he said as we neared the Fat Lady._

"_Well, duh, moron, you would think that you dirty Slytherin," I answered back shoving him playfully against the wall. _

"_Dirty Slytherin? You're the one that just shoved me!" he said laughing._

"_And you're the one that deserved it!" I poked him the ribs and he squirmed._

"_Did not!"_

"_Did too!"_

_A playful fight ensued involving each of us trying to poke the other in the ribs. In a well thought out tactical move, Malfoy managed to get my arms behind my back._

_I squealed and tried to break loose._

"_Not fair, you stupid Quidditch player. You have an advantage!" I screeched, trying to kick him. And failing._

"_What's my advantage, oh courageous on?" he replied, his voice dripping in sarcasm._

"_You have muscles. As a girl, who is about a foot shorter than you, I have no chance!" _

"_You're doing ok," he said, looking extremely comfortable as I continued to struggle to break free._

"_You're using your advantage to your advantage!" I squealed, trying, once again, to kick, or knee, him in the shins._

"_Isn't that the whole point?" he asked with a smirk._

"_I give up, bully." I stuck my tongue out at him and stopped struggling. Trying to keep my face straight, and not laugh, I said, "I must bid thee goodnight, sir, please release me."_

"_No way, hose," he said with a smirk._

_That was when his lips crashed down on mine._

_And that was when I panicked._

_I didn't even know if I liked the guy, and here I was kissing him. I quickly moved back._

"_Um…I better go…my friends might be waiting for me," I said awkwardly, my heart pumping wildly against my ribs._

_Malfoy looked back grimly._

"_Right."_

_And I never saw him again. Well, technically I did, as I saw his face and stuff. But it wasn't the same Malfoy that had been my good friend at DADA club. _

_It was some new Malfoy, who suddenly had hundreds of girlfriends. _

_Who wouldn't even say hi to me in corridors._

_I didn't like him one bit._

I blinked back at the memory and leant forward to put some potatoes on my plate.

"Eurgh, the hideous Malfoy is staring at you, Rose," Al said, looking over my shoulder with disdain.

"Well, I wouldn't call him hideous…" Tess replied, with a knowing smile. I glared at her. "You know…I'd stick to mean, arrogant, obnoxious…"

"Much better," I replied, and put a forkful of potato into my mouth.

"You are totally going to marry him."

I almost choked on my potato.

I have managed to almost completely avoid him for the last two years, and there is no way I'm stopping now. As soon as I'm safe out of Hogwarts I'll never have to see his albino face again.

And perhaps my friends will also stop insinuating that I will marry the guy.

He's an utter prat. And he ignores me all the time. You would never know we used to be such good friends.

Seriously, I mean, our kids would be hideous. My freckles and his hypopigmentary congenital disorder equals one revolting child.

I think even the giant squid would be better looking.

And have you seen that thing…all slimy and tentacle-y.

"Ewww!" I replied in horror and gave her a look that would kill. If only I had that happy power.

"Just saying…he's totally in love with you." She averts her attention back to scooping up her peas and I turn around quickly to look at the Slytherin table.

So…Malfoys in love with me (note the sarcasm), that's why he's currently gazing down Heather Goyle's shirt. Right…

Sometimes I worry about the sanity of my close friends.

"He is so not," I replied stabbing a potato with unnecessary force.

"He is. Whenever anyone mentions your name with him in hearing distance he suddenly spins around," Al piped up.

I rolled my eyes.

"That could just as easily be hatred. Like whenever he hears my name he wants to kill me or something."

"Oh yeah…because that's _so _much more plausible," Tess interjected sarcastically.

"It is. I mean _in love _with me?! He hasn't even spoken to me in two years!"

Al's eyes shot up into the realms of his untidy black hair.  
"Because you flat out rejected him and no one rejects the mighty Malfoy."  
An excellent point.

But he had never dated anyone until after he started ignoring me, so that can't possibly be the reason.

Despite that, it is true. No one rejects Malfoy. He probably has more girls at his feet than Max Wood, and that is saying something.

"Whatever."

Al gave me a triumphant smirk then rubbed his hands together as the main course vanished and a variety of desserts lined every table.

"Excellent, pudding!"

As Al dished out a bit of everything onto his dessert plate, I peered down the table to catch Max looking our way. Nervously I smiled, and he smiled cautiously back.

"What are you grinning at?" Al asked between mouthfuls of trifle.

"N-nothing."

Eventually, the puddings too were devoured and everyone fell silent as McGonagall got steadily to her feet. She surveyed everyone with a stern look and cleared her throat quietly.

"Well, I'd like to wish a warm welcome to our new students. Remember to work hard and I'm sure you will enjoy yourselves. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you all.

"Professor Trelawney is resuming her position of teaching the sixth years from Professor Firenze. However, third and fourth year classes will still be taken by him."

Tess would be happy about that after all she's taking Divination this year and adores Trelawney.

"Should you wish to join your house Quidditch team there will be sign up sheets available in all of the common rooms.

"Finally, Mr Filch would like me to remind you that fighting in corridors," she took a moment to glare at the third years who were fighting on the train, "is prohibited.

"Goodnight all. First years, if you would follow your house prefects to your dormitories."

The fifth year Gryffindor prefects led the way up the marble staircase and to the common room, and the first years followed sleepily behind dragging their feet. I took up the rear with Max.

We were silent most of the way, occasionally speaking to tell a first year off for being too noisy. As we climbed the final staircase before reaching the common room, Max turned to me, his navy eyes sparkling in the light from the torches on the walls.

"You're taking Transfiguration right?"

I nodded, "yeah. Why are you?"  
"Of course, I'll guess I'll see you in lessons tomorrow then."

He gave me one of his infamously gorgeous smiles then casually pushed through the first years to reach the Fat Lady.

"_Hippogriff_," he said. The fifth year gave him a grateful look, it seemed that apparently they hadn't been told what the password was.

The portrait swung open easily and the first years, after freezing in amazement for about half a minute, climbed through the portrait hole into the common room.

It looked like McGonagall had done some decorating since the last year. The carpets had been replaced as the old ones had been a little scuffed, and there were new curtains hanging elegantly from the huge windows overlooking the lake.

"Girls up here," I called to the frightened faces of the first years. They all peered up silently and then the girls walked up the staircase I was pointing up. I directed them to their room, and as I headed up another floor to my room heard them shriek in amazement, "Four posters!".

I smiled to myself a little as I went into my room and collapsed onto the edge of my bed.

"I am exhausted," Tess announced, digging in her trunk to find her pyjamas.

"Join the club," I yawned back.

"I'm going to sleep straight away tonight. I need my beauty sleep to look amazing for the morning," said Amber, one of the other three girls that Tess and I share a dorm with.

Amber's best friend, Yasmin, nodded vigorously, "Yeah, me too. I need to look fab. Have you seen Max Wood? I swear he gets hotter every time I see him!"

"He does, and guess who gets to do patrol with him," Tess said with a cheeky grin at me.

Yasmin screamed and flapped her hands widely.

"Are you serious Rose! You get to do patrol with him! Sometimes I wish I was clever, then McGonagall would have picked me to be prefect then I could have wandered the corridors at night with Wood," she said with a dreamy gaze.

"If only," Amber said, with an equally faraway look. "He is perfection."  
You see, everyone agrees with me. It's only really Tess that thinks he's a creep.

"He is. And I spend every Wednesday night until Christmas in his fabulous company."

Amber and Yasmin looked enviously at me.

"Lucky for some!" Yasmin said, as she clambered into her pyjamas.

I gave her a grin and she smiled back. Yasmin may be a bit out of it at times (she's your typical airhead blonde) but she is really lovely, and great to hang out with. Unlike our other room-mate, Amber's twin sister, Miranda.

She does this thing where she completely blanks me and Tess, and only talks to Amber and Yasmin.

Speak of the devil, there she was standing in the doorway with her skirt sickeningly short.

"Hey girls. I'll be out for a bit, I'm meeting up with a certain Wood," Yasmin clapped her hands and giggled excitedly with a grin. Miranda smiled back. "I know, he's amazing right? Anyway, I'll try not to wake you guys later, ok?"

Amber winked at her, "Have fun!"

Eurgh. Why is it that amazingly hot guys always date the slutty mean girls?

It's like the law of the universe.

I wished everyone a goodnight then pulled back my crimson curtains around my bed.

If only Wood would go out with _me_, I thought to myself.

I rolled over and tried to get to sleep but it took me longer than I thought as Yasmin and Amber had launched into an animated discussion about the best lipgloss.  
I fell asleep once they finally decided on watermelon flavoured lipgloss and quit talking.


	2. Lessons and winking

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Here's the next part…a little shorter, but all the same.**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

TWO

I have never been a morning person.

Unlike Tess who was bouncing on the end of my bed getting steadily more frustrated as I told her to go away.

"Five minutes, please! Lessons don't start for another hour!" I groaned, rolling over and pulling the blanket over my head.

She hit my exposed feet with her hairbrush.

"Get up already! Everyone else has already left."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes as I scanned the room.

She was right, the other three girls had already gone. If they were all awake, then I had no excuse to still be snuggled under my covers.

With a yawn, I kicked my legs off my bed and then leant forward to rummage through my trunk to find my uniform.

"I hope we have a free this morning. We do still get them in sixth year don't we?" Tess said whilst applying a layer of mascara to her upper lashes using a hand held mirror which she had levitated to be at eye level.

"As far as I know we still get them. Why wouldn't we?" I replied, pulling my skirt over my hips and yanking on my jumper.

"They were thinking of scrapping them last year. That's what Al told me anyway," she said absentmindedly.

"I wouldn't believe what Al said. He probably made that up to get you worried or something." I straightened out the prefect badge on my chest. "Talking of Al, he'll probably be playing that prank on you today won't he?"

Tess spun round and looked at me, her horror evident.

"Crap! Can you protect me?"

Protect her?

Me?

"How? I'm useless," I said as she gave me puppy dog eyes.

That is not going to work Miss Tess Taylor.

I will not fall for your puppy look.

"But you're a prefect, he wouldn't dare do something with a prefect watching," she said, as if she was stating the obvious.

Tess is clearly forgetting something.

Namely that Al is my cousin. A prefect badge is not going to stop him from pulling a prank when I'm watching.

Well, it sure hasn't stopped him in the past.

"We're talking about Al here, Tess, not some kind of suck-up first year," I said.

"Ah…but if you watch then you can write to his mum. He would get a howler as punishment…pleaseeee!" she said, kneeling down on the floor and practically begging.

"Well seeing as you asked so nicely," I said sarcastically, "I will. But I'm not protecting you, I'll just follow you around so I can give him a detention."

She gave me a toothy grin.

"Thank you Rosieee!"

Eurgh.

I hate it when people call me that.

I glared at her, and she put her hand over her mouth.

"Sorry…I meant Rose!" I rolled my eyes as I picked up my schoolbag and we walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

When we got down to the hall Al had already scoffed his breakfast and he was reading his timetable as he waited for us.

We sat down and he pushed two pieces of paper towards us.

"Your timetables, ladies," he said with his most charming smile.

Which is very charming, I might add, as it has hordes of girls swooning over him.

"Thanks," I said, peering down at my timetable.

I had Transfiguration first with the Slytherins.

What luck. Note the sarcasm.

I groaned.

"What's up?" Tess asked.

"Transfiguration- "

"But you like Transfiguration," she interrupted looking at me with confusion marring her face.

"-with the Slytherins." I finished.

Her mouth formed an 'O' of surprise.

Then she grinned.

"Boy, am I glad I didn't take that subject! I have divination first," she said looking relieved.

"No worries, Rose, I have transfiguration too," Al piped up, tucking into another slice of toast when he'd already finished eating his breakfast.

Both me and Al have always been the greedy pigs of the family. We each eat more than both our mum's put together.

Which is a lot by the way.

"Good. At least I'll have someone, I swear practically no one from Gryffindor is taking it this year," I wondered aloud.

"True. But like all the Slytherins are taking it," Al said with a hint of disgust barely concealed in his tone of voice.

All the Slytherins?

But that means…

Malfoy.

I shuddered.

The last thing I need is another lesson for that stupid arrogant blonde to purposefully ignore me.

Or worse, sneer at me like all the time.

I followed Al to the Transfiguration classroom dragging my heels.

Al picked up on my miserable mood.

"Why the long face?" he asked, hitching his bag another inch up his shoulder.

"Transfiguration…" he nodded his head urging me to go on, "with the Slytherins."

I gave him a look.

"Oh…Malfoy…right." He looked a little anxious. "Just sit next to me, and you can be my partner."

As much as working with Al wouldn't exactly be too beneficial to my grade, it was better than working with bloody Malfoy or one his hideously conceited cronies.

In fact, I would take working with Miranda over a Slytherin any day.

Not that I'm biased against the slimy snakes or anything.

Well, I am.

But with reason, I mean they are all stuck-up.

As soon as McGonagall let us into the classroom, I nabbed Al and I a desk at the front.

Al groaned as he swung his bag onto the desk.

"Why the front?" he asked with a whiny voice.

"Because, unlike you, I want to pass this class," I replied giving him a prod.

"I want to pass the class, I just don't want to sit on the front. McGonagall will always pick on me and I don't memorise the textbooks like you," he said miserably.

I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe if you paid attention…" I said smirking humorously at him.

"I doooo…well I don't, but I can't sleep when I'm sitting under bloody McGonagall's nose," he said but resigned himself to sitting in the empty seat next to me.

The rest of the class filed in chattering away.

Luckily, Malfoy was seated as far away from me as possible – he was sitting right at the back of the classroom next to Leo Zabini.

The ever-so-charming Leo was flicking bits of paper at Ben Nott who was sitting in front of him.

And people wonder why they are considered the idiots of our year.

McGonagall looked quite surprised to have Al sitting right at the front of the class and she paused a second to give him a strange look before starting the lesson.

Al elbowed me, "I hate you. She's giving me weird looks."

I chuckled under my breath and got out some paper to write some notes.

Al snorted as I started to scribble down the stuff about switching spells McGonagall was dictating.

Ok, there is no way he is borrowing my notes to revise from this year.

"Zabini!" McGonagall screeched halfway through her lecture. "Zabini, stop flicking that parchment at Nott. Perhaps we should move you…"

I spun round with a triumphant grin and noticed Zabini looking extremely sheepish.

"Let's have you at the front where I can see you." McGonagall lowered her voice to speak to me as the rest of the class broke out into conversation. "Miss Weasley, I think I can trust you at the back of the classroom, would you mind swapping."

Oh god.

You have got to be kidding me.

There is no way that I am sitting next to...that…that…

Mind you, if we take the last two years by example, he might not actually talk to me.

Even so, I did not want to spend the rest of the hour breathing in the same air as Malfoy.

I gave McGonagall a nod and a half-hearted attempt at a smile as Zabini appeared next to me with his shiny teeth glinting as he smiled at me.

"Sorry, Weasley. Maybe I could make it up to you, fancy going into Hogsmeade with me sometime?" he said waggling his eyebrows suggestively and still revealing his white pearly teeth to me.

"No, not really," I said, trying to sound as polite as possible.

You know, it's quite hard to be polite when you're rejecting someone.

However, Zabini didn't seem to mind. His smile didn't even falter.

"If you change your mind, come find me," he said as he sat down next to Al who was looking up at him a little confused.

To be honest, I was a little puzzled myself.

I mean, we're talking about a guy who, along with his best mate, has denied my existence for the past several years. And now is asking me out.

Maybe someone spiked the pumpkin juice this morning.

In a befuddled state I lugged my heavy bag to the back of the classroom and slid onto the desk, trying to keep to my side of the desk.

Malfoy looked at me with an amused expression pasted over his face.

"I'm not poisonous you know," he drawled.

I tucked a fallen auburn ringlet behind my ear and looked at him confused, for about the fiftieth time that day.

He spoke to me.

As in, Malfoy spoke to me.

Malfoy.

Is this the same person?

I raised one eyebrow as I scanned his pale face.

"I never said you were," I said emotionlessly.

He smirked, "You kind of implied it, I mean you're practically falling off the edge of the desk."

I sneered at him and glanced down at my workspace.

Sure enough, I had about an inch of desk that I had claimed, otherwise I was literally hanging off the edge of the wooden table.

But I didn't move any closer to him.

I choose no workspace over Malfoy-infested-workspace.

"Well, would you look at that…" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

Malfoy smiled then turned to look at the board.

I faced the front as well, my mind reeling.

So, he ignores me for ages then when forced to sit next to me engages me in almost civilized conversation.

Sometimes the workings of the male mind are mysterious.

Ok, all the time to me.

I spent the rest of the lesson absent-mindedly taking notes and staring at the clock waiting for the lesson to end already.

I swear, when you watch clocks they go slower than they normally do.

Finally, when the clock struck ten o clock, I swept my books into my bag and shoved my quill in as well, before hauling it onto my shoulder.

Zabini walked past just as I was about to leave. He gave me a long slow wink.

Oh my god.

What exactly is going on with the world?

My jaw dropped almost to the floor as I watched Zabini's retreating back. Al grabbed my arm and steered me out of the classroom.

"Uh, Rose?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did Zabini just wink at you?" He smirked evilly.

Clearly he was contemplating the exact sentiment that I was.

Did Zabini seriously just wink at me?

I better let McGonagall know that the House Elves are putting something in the drinks.

"I think so," I said anxiously.

Al burst out into hysterical peals of laughter.

Until I stepped angrily on his foot.

"Owww!" he exclaimed, clutching his left foot.

"It's not funny," I said through a clenched jaw.

Luckily we had a free lesson then, so me and Al went to the Gryffindor common room to find Tess. We found her sitting next to the fire writing answers to some questions from her Divination textbook. She looked up when we came in.

"Zabini winked at Rose!"

Those were the words that Al greeted her with.

Al cracked up laughing, and was rolling around on the hearthrug. Tess gave him an exasperated look and turned to me.

"Seriously?" she said with a sneaky grin.

I nodded with a disgust etched all over my freckly face.

Al pointed at me clutching his stomach in laughter.

I sat down on the sofa opposite Tess.

"He must have been drunk or something," I concluded after a few minutes of sitting in silence.

Tess gave me the same look she had just given Al.

"No, moron, I'd imagine that it's because he likes you," she said, as if she was stating the obvious.

Right…

Personally, I find the drunk conclusion much more believable.

"Don't be so stupid, I mean, come on, I'm dorky Rose!" I exclaimed. Al coughed loudly.

"Well, you used to be," he said raising his eyebrows and smiling.

"I think what Al is trying to say," Tess said, giving Al a disapproving look, "is that over the summer, you kind of…"

"Got much prettier." I glared at him and he looked sheepish. "By accident, I'm sure."

"Not that you weren't pretty before," Tess interjected.

I gave her a disbelieving look.

"I appreciate you guys trying to be nice, but let's face it, I am fairly hideous," I reminded her.

She rolled her eyes and clamped her hand to her forehead.

"For a clever person, you are really stupid," Al said trying to replicate Tess's exasperated look.

"I give up on you," Tess said dramatically and returned to her work.

"You have work already?" Al asked her in horror.

"Yep, and I'm getting it done now, it's not too long," she said frantically scribbling away.

"McGonagall didn't give us any," Al announced sounding surprisingly like a toddler flaunting a chocolate bar in front of a younger sibling.

"Bully for her," Tess replied without even looking up from her work.

Al bounced up to his feet.

"Well, I'm going to love you and leave you, girlies," he said, giving us a quick wave and then casually walking out of the common room.

No doubt he was off to the kitchen's to steal some food.

It wouldn't be anything new.

As he left the room, I noticed Tess glance up and give him a little wave. Her eyes lingered on the portrait hole for a couple of seconds after it had closed.

I looked back at her and she was smiling to herself as she was doing her work.

Hmmm….interesting…


	3. Snogging in a cupboard? Don't do it

**THREE**

Tess and I collapsed simultaneously onto the sofas in the Gryffindor common room after dinner and flung our bags onto the ground.

I rested my feet on the coffee table in front of me and sighed.

"I can't believe we have to write a foot and half essay for potions," I said thinking of the long essay and presumably sleepless night that lay ahead of me to finish the essay that our potions teacher Professor Ackerley had decided to give us.

"I know, it's the _first _day of the year as well," Tess groaned. "Why can't they just give us a relaxing day on the first day."

"Well, when you're headmistress you can change it," I said with a smile.

Tess made a disgusted face and elbowed me.

"There is no way I'm becoming headmistress, I would have to hang out with Ackerley all the time," she said shivering involuntarily.

I laughed loudly. "You would be best buds!"

"Shut up!" she said giving me a shove so my feet fell off the table.

"Oi!" I giggled leaning over and trying to shove her too, but I was interrupted by someone saying my name.

"Uh…Rose?"

I looked up and found myself drowning in navy blue eyes framed by a curtain of long dark lashes.

"Uhnuh…" My brain seemed to have chosen that moment to completely shut down and leave me completely unable to construct a coherent sentence. Finally I managed to say, "Yeah?"

"We have patrol," he stated, flicking his gaze over Tess and then returning to rest on me again.

"Oh, ok. Two seconds, I'm coming," I said, my heart beating madly against my chest.

***

"I'll do the dungeons, can you check out the owlery?" Max said with a look upon his face that practically screamed boredom. Not that I was really having that much fun either. Admittedly being in the overwhelming presence of a blonde god for prefect patrol was brilliant, however the fact that he had barely spoken to me since we had stepped outside of the common room less than half an hour ago didn't exactly make this the most exciting evening ever.

"Yeah, ok. I'll meet you outside the Gryffindor common room in half an hour then we can do the last couple of floors together," I said in an equally bored tone – being in his presence for so long was starting to rub off on me. He gave me a reluctant smile and headed off towards the dungeons.

He wasn't much of a conversationalist really. Perhaps he was as nervous as I was?

It was possible that he liked me…

And with that thought I rounded the corner with a grin plastered over my face.

Just as I reached the bottom of the winding staircase that led up to the owlery I heard a suspicious bang followed by a girlish giggle coming from the broom cupboard on the right of me.

I figured that someone was trying to hide in the cupboard and thought I might as well take some points off them, after all nothing else had happened all evening. I tried to door handle but it was locked.

With a roll of my eyes I took my wand out of the waistband of my skirt and muttered: "Alohamora."  
The door swung open and I immediately wished that I hadn't heard the bang and had gone straight up to the owlery. Sitting nestled between the brooms and boxes in a comprising position was none other than Scorpius Malfoy and some particularly buxom Ravenclaw from the year below.

Upon noticing that I was there they immediately untwined themselves from each others arms and turned to face me with annoyed glares.

I resisted the urge to vomit with great difficulty.

Is it really necessary to engage in such activities in a broom cupboard after hours?

"Get out," I said authoratively. The Ravenclaw girl gave Malfoy an irritated look then clambered out of the cupboard and adjusted her skirt. "Twenty points from Ravenclaw." The girl just pouted, rolled her eyes and with a flick of her honey blonde hair strutted arrogantly down the corridor.

How is it that people worship bimbos like her?

I turned back to the cupboard to find Malfoy still in there, casually leaning against the doorframe. I couldn't help noticing that the top few buttons of his shirt were undone revealing several inches of muscled chest.

"Twenty points from Slytherin as well," I said meeting his pale grey eyes with an unsmiling sneer. Malfoy snorted as I turned on my heel and started climbing the stairs towards the owlery, inwardly vomiting at the sight that I just had to endure.

"Jealous, Weasley?" he said when I reached the fourth step.

Now it was my turn to snort. I spun around to find him still arrogantly resting on the frame swinging his Slytherin tie round in circles with that horrendous smirk infecting his face.

I swear the second his tiny baby self saw his father it adopted the smirk that all horrendously conceited Malfoy's are known to possess. I personally feel sorry for his mother who has to look at his face, and his father's face, every day.

"You wish, Malfoy," I scoff angrily.

His smirk vanished and was replaced by complete blankness. With one last searing glare from his grey eyes he slammed the cupboard door with a little more force than was really necessary and casually loped down the corridor whilst running a pale muscled hand through his platinum hair.

Well, I for one was not expecting him to react in such an utterly bizarre way.

From what little I can remember of our first year days when he and Albus would regularly engage themselves in petty fights where they would hurl abuse at one another he was actually a master at delivering a scathing comeback.

I frowned then carried on my way up the stairs.  
As I had suspected, the owlery was devoid of any human life and instead full of the sounds of ruffling feathers. On the way back down however, I collided with Al who was looking extremely suspicious. His hands were behind his back and his eyes were huge.

"Oh, hey Rose!" he said with a nervous chuckle.

"What are you doing, Al?" I asked in a disapproving tone.

"N-n-nothing," he stammered, trying to edge past me.

"Back to the common room, or I'll take points from you," I said, ushering him back down the stairs. "What were you doing anyway?"

"Oh…um…"

I gave him a look.

"Fine, I'll tell you! I was sending an owl to Uncle George to ask for some stuff for a prank," he said, annoyed that I'd managed to get it out of him.

"Would this happen to be the prank you're pulling on Tess?" I asked innocently.

"No!" he replied, a little too quickly. Which meant it clearly was for Tess' prank.

I narrowed my eyes at him.  
"Fine, yeah it is. Hugo came up with the idea," he said.

"Urgh…it's bound to be horrible with _Hugo _planning it," I said with a shiver. Al laughed.

"It's not too bad, we're not turning her hair pink again, if that's what you think!" he said nervously, clearly worried about admitting the contents of the prank to a prefect who could easily inform his mother of any misbehaving he gets up to.

"I won't tell your mum as long as the school remains intact," I said cheerily and Al relaxed a bit and chuckled.

"What a shame, I was thinking of exploding Gryffindor tower," he said laughing.

We were both laughing as we neared the portrait hole, and as we neared I noticed Max leaning casually against the wall.

"Hey, Max," I said quietly. Al snorted loudly next to me and discretely stood on his foot causing him to scream 'OW!' loudly then climb through the portrait hole after nodding his head at Max the way that boys greet each other, and then giving me one last smirk before the portrait hole closed.

"Do we have any more to do?" he asked.

"Yeah, a couple more floors," I replied, trying to stop myself from turning beetroot red. As well as inheriting the traditional Weasley hair and ocean blue eyes, I also seem to have gotten the blushing affliction which has resulted in much teasing over the years, particularly from Al who is the spitting image of his father, Uncle Harry.

"Do you mind if we give it a miss? I have that essay to write for Ackerley and I want to get it done," Max asked politely.

"Sure, I don't mind," I replied and after a quick goodbye in the common room (basically a little wave on my part and a mumble of 'night' on his) we went up the stairs to our respective dormitories.


	4. Quidditch, shedevils and detention

**FOUR**

"Owl for you," I said when Al finally arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast. He slumped on the chair and started buttering some toast.

"What does it say?" he asked before taking a large bite of toast spraying Tess and I with crumbs.

"Ewww, Al!" Tess squealed, but Al just shrugged and continued to shovel food into his humungous mouth.

"Rose? What does it say?" Al repeated.

"I haven't opened it because its addressed to you," I replied, confused as to why Al expected me to have opened his letter.

"Why not? I always open yours," he said with a shrug. I glared at him, and he looked a little sheepish. I decided that as Al clearly wasn't going to relieve the poor owl of their letter any time soon, I would open it for him.

I opened the seal and scan read it:

_Al,_

_Uncle Ron has managed to get you a couple of tickets to the Chudley Cannon game on October 31st! You can invite one other friend, but let me know soon because your mum needs to write in to get the pair of you a day off school._

_Hope school is going well – you better have started practicing Quidditch for the cup already!_

_Love Dad_

"Your dad has got you tickets to see the Chudley Cannons," I said as a reply to Al's inquisitive staring.

"What?!" Al screamed happily, grabbing the letter from my clutches and reading it quickly. "YES!" he shouted loudly, causing several people to stare his way wondering what all the fuss was about.

"WOW!" Tess squealed, reading the letter over Al's shoulder. "And you can take a friend!" She gave Al a pleading smile.

Al grinned, then looked a little worried and glanced my way, "but…Rose?"

Now, you may think that at this point I would have been completely mad that my two best friends were planning on going to a Quidditch match without me, but the fact was that I didn't really mind that much. Quidditch is not really my thing – I take after my mum in that respect. I just can't understand what all the fuss is about, because let's be honest, it's just a few people flying around on brooms chucking balls at one another. Not my idea of fun. I'd much rather sit down with a good book and one of Grandma Molly's homemade biscuits than sit screaming in the stands in the rain watching some people swoop around madly.

So I honestly didn't mind Al taking Tess. After all, she would enjoy it much more than I ever would.

"I don't mind," I said, smiling to let them know I really was ok. "But isn't that the day of the Halloween dance?"

Al shrugged, "Who cares? This is a _Chudley Cannon _game!" Tess squealed again and clapped her hands together excitedly.

In case you hadn't guessed, Tess is one of the many Quidditch fans that infest this school, she is also a chaser for the Gryffindor team and so she has tried on more than one occasion to drag me along to one of the school games. And I have managed to get out of it every single time. Not because I don't want to watch her play, purely because I don't want my eardrums to burst from the noise.

Quidditch games are so loud, you can hear them from the library.

"Haven't Chudley Cannons been at the bottom of the league for over 20 years?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yes…well…I still don't want to miss this game," Al said, surprised that I knew such a fact.

"Wow, are you sure I can have the other ticket?" Tess asked nervously. Al nodded furiously.

"Sure! None of the guys on the team like the Cannons anyway," he replied.

"I can't wait," she shrieked, pulling Al into a quick hug and then getting up, "I better tell Amber!" Amber is another chaser on the house team, and the only other girl on the team. Tess always shares all Quidditch related stories with her because a) she's really nice – shame she's related to the evilness that is Miranda and b) because I find stories about how so-and-so got hit by a bludger incredibly dull.

"Hi, Al!"

Speak of the devil.

If it isn't Miranda and her non-existant skirt.

"Hey Miranda," Al said, giving me an annoyed look. Al does date a lot of girls but at least he picks fairly decent ones, he would never go near Miranda if he was paid. Miranda, however, is incapable of picking up the subtle hints that he drops such as 'No, I do not want to go to Hogsmeade with you' and 'Put your tits away, for Merlin's sake Miranda', and she feels the need to constantly bombard him with her presence until he finally asks her out.

Which will never happen. So she is inflicting her presence on us for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Which is all the more annoying.

"Oh, Weasley. Can't you go revise or something?" she says looking down on me as if I just rolled in dog dirt.

I take one look at the sneer on her face and decide that today Al will have to deal with her on his own.

"I was just leaving anyway, _Miranda,_" I replied, my voice dripping in fake admiration.

Miranda's face merely assumed a particularly unattractive expression. I picked up my bag and gave Al a little overly-cheerful wave. He glared at me, and then looked at me pleadingly when Miranda sat down and leant forward over the table.

I felt a bit bad about leaving him there, but decided that he would be able to cope, and besides I had forgotten my Transfiguration book for the first lesson of the day.

As I am only taking five subjects this year, we basically have a lesson of each every day. In fact Friday is the only day that I don't have Transfiguration.

It's not that I dislike the _subject_, I just despise the people that I am forced to learn with. The Slytherins. The only house in Hogwarts that thinks their green robes mean they are royalty.

After grabbing my book from my dormitory, I walk quickly to Transfiguration as unless I get there within the next minute I will officially be late.

When I arrive at the door, the class is still waiting in the corridor, and I squeeze through a couple of burly Slytherin guys to stand next to Al.

"You left me with the she-devil!" Al muttered angrily under his breath when I was in hearing range.

"She treats me like crap, I didn't want to hang out with her," I replied.

"Oh, and I did?" he asked sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, she would have ignored me anyway, so I might as well not have been there."  
"But I could have used you as an excuse to leave," he whispered miserably.

"Fine, next time I won't leave and I'll make up some reason that you have to leave with me, ok?" I replied. He looked a little consoled and gave me the traditional Potter grin before entering the classroom and sitting down at our desk at the front.

No sooner than I had got out my heavy transfiguration book, McGonagall arrived and immediately came over to me to ask why I wasn't sitting at the back.

"I thought that was only for that lesson," I replied, confused. Did she honestly think I would sit next to that idiot of my own accord without a teacher telling me directly to do so?  
"Oh, well it wasn't," she replied simply.

Aargh!

Al grinned at me. "This is what you get for leaving me with evil Miranda."

I gave him an irritated glare and he started laughing silently.

I flung my book back in my bag and on my way to the back on the classroom, bumped into none other than Leo Zabini.

"Weasley," he said in a low and frankly disturbingly sultry voice. "My offer's still on the table."

"And my answer's still the same," I replied, trying not to look as surprised as I was feeling.

"Feisty…" he said raising one eyebrow, "I like it."

This is getting beyond weird.

He walked to the front of the classroom with a smirk plastered on his face and I stared at his retreating back.

Clearly, spiking the pumpkin juice has become an everyday occurrence.

When I sat down next to Malfoy, he didn't look up to acknowledge my presence at all. In fact, it wasn't until half way through the lesson when we were trying to change our raccoon into a handbag that he finally spoke.

"I suppose you're assuming Zabini is drunk," he said as he transfigured his raccoon into a small black bag.

"You know me too well," I said sarcastically, when truthfully I was actually quite worried as that was exactly what I had been thinking. "It's the only reasonable explanation." I looked forward to the front of the classroom the guy in question and noticed Zabini looking back at me with a smile.

Malfoy smirked, "True. Merlin knows what he sees in you."

My mouth dropped open at his rudeness.

"I mean, red hair has never been a particularly attractive trait and it was significantly unsuccessful on you."  
I stared at him angrily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, fuming.

What was with this guy?

First he ignores me for Merlin knows how long, and then he starts insulting me!

"I would've thought you'd be able to pick up what I was getting at, being the dork that you are," he said looking at me with a sneer.

His sneer was so much worse than Miranda's. It was a look of pure loathing.

"I'd rather be a dork than a jerk," I replied pointing my wand angrily at his chest. He lazily lifted his up to point it between my eyes.

"Malfoy? Weasley?" McGonagall looked between us incredulously. I lowered my wand and looked sheepishly at McGonagall. "Fighting in class? I think a detention is in order!"

Great.

So first he insults me, and now I have a detention with him.

Well, this is my lucky day.


	5. Interhouse unity in the library

**FIVE**

McGonagall made us come to see her at the end of the day so she could properly inflict a detention on us. Us being me and the hideously conceited Malfoy and his fluctuating temper.

Merlin knows what goes on in that pure-blood brain of his.

To put it bluntly, I was not at all impressed that I – a _prefect_ – was getting detention, and it seems that McGonagall wasn't all that chuffed with me either. She decided that cleaning bedpans in the hospital wing was a worthy punishment.

How I hate cleaning.

I'm not one of those people that rely on house-elves for all menial tasks – I am descended from my mother the lover of house-elves after all. But I don't see why punishments that involve cleaning should be given. They are completely unrelated to the crime.

Once McGonagall dismissed us, I hurried off to the library as fast as my short legs could carry me. Purely because I didn't want to be in Malfoy's presence any longer than was actually necessary.

Luckily, the library was fairly empty as dinner was currently in full swing, and I'd eaten before I'd gone to see McGonagall, so I found a small table near the back and started trying to write the potions essay that we'd been given the other day. I still hadn't made a start on it, and it was in for the next week, so I figured I better do it.

***

An hour later I had managed to fill half a piece of parchment. I rested my quill for a second and looked around. Dinner had finished a while ago so the library had filled up with people from various years – most of them being Ravenclaws as they were the only people who really wanted to work on the first week of term.

My eyes surveyed the shelves near me, and I noticed a tall, dark-skinned guy casually flicking through a book about ten feet away.

What was Leo Zabini doing in the library?

True, he wasn't as completely brain-dead as people assumed – he had occasionally gotten some good grades – but even so, as a Slytherin, he wasn't exactly one for hanging out in the library.

Thinking back to his recent acknowledgement of me in Transfiguration, I put my head down, sincerely hoping he hadn't noticed me.

"Hey, Weasley."

I looked up.

Zabini.

I tried to cover my irritation that he was talking to me with a nervous smile.

"Hi, Zabini," I replied, immediately returning to my textbook to look up the amount of newt scales I needed for the potion I was writing my essay on.

"Working hard I see," he said, as I put a full stop at the end of a sentence.

"Can I help you, Zabini?" I asked, as politely as I could muster, whilst internally wishing he would go away.

"Does a friend need a reason to talk to a friend?" he replied with a shrug, sitting down on the chair next to me and resting his elbows on the desk.

"I wasn't under the impression that we were friends," I said, a little worried.

"I was hoping we could be. It's never too late for a little inter-house unity, you know," he said happily.

Things just get weirder and weirder.

Until they are beyond absurd.

I mean, a _Slytherin _asking for _inter-house unity_?

In my shock, all I could think of to say was, "Oh."

Zabini smiled in a friendly manner.

"I heard what Malfoy said in Transfiguration today, by the way," he piped up, pulling a book out of his bag clearly with the intention of working.

"I think everyone did," I said in an undertone.

"Well, on his behalf, I'm sorry, and for the record, he's wrong. Red hair really does suit you," he said, a little nervously as if expecting me to slap him for being forward.

I smiled.

Perhaps he was alright.

"Thanks. You know for a Slytherin, you're actually quite decent," I said thoughtfully.

"And for a Gryffindor, you're really clever. Fancy giving me a hand on my potions essay?" he asked with a pleading look.

I laughed, and pushed the book I had so he could see it.

"I found this book it basically says everything you need to know to write the essay," I replied.

He took a quick look at the page smiled, and said, "Thanks." Then he wrote the title of his essay in a surprisingly tidy scrawl for someone who spends minimal time working.

Half an hour passed in companionable silence, with us occasionally stopping to ask the other a question about the essay.

Well, it was mainly Zabini stopping to ask me a question rather than the other way round.

At half past eight I decided to stop working for the evening, as curfew was at nine and as a prefect I was supposed to set an example to the younger students – staying out past the curfew was not a good example.

I put down my quill and rolled up my parchment.

"Thinking of heading back?" Zabini asked without looking up. His eyebrows were furrowed as he tried to calculate something.

"Yeah, it's getting late, curfew is in half an hour, so I thought I'd head back to the Gryffindor common room," I replied, as I put my rolled up essay and my quill neatly in my bag.

"I think I'll come too," Zabini said and he casually threw his belongings haphazardly into his bag. He yawned and I snorted.

When he yawned he looked somewhat like a small child or baby, which was quite a funny image, especially for someone from Slytherin.

"Something funny, Weasley?" he asked with a grin.

"Nope," I said with another chuckle.

He rolled his eyes and swung his bag onto his shoulder.

As we left the library, he turned to me.

"You know, I would walk you to your common room, but unfortunately I have no idea where it is," he said.

Who knew he could be such a gentleman.

"It's ok, I know the way," I said with a smile.

"Ok, then," he replied, taking a deep breath, "I'll be off then. Nice talking to you, Weasley."

"No problem, Zabini," I said, and with a quick wave took a step in the direction of the common room before being stopped by Zabini calling my name.

"Hey, Weasley. You want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" he asked, with a sneaky grin and a glint in his eye.

I glared at him.

I may be halfway to considering him an acquaintance, if not a friend, but there is no way in hell that I am going to Hogsmeade with him. Everyone knows how he treats his many girlfriends. I think I would go as far to say that he is worse than Malfoy on the girlfriend front.

And _that_ is saying something.

"I was joking, Weasley," he said seeing the look on my face and bursting out into laughter.

Hilarious.

Even so, I couldn't help cracking a grin before finally turning around and heading off to the common room.

What I found when I got there was a quite distressed Tess, pacing in front of the fire, with Al sitting on the sofa, clearly trying not to burst out laughing.

"Uh... did I miss something?" I said, surveying the two of them. Tess was looked utterly confused at that moment, and was resting her hand on her chin as if contemplating something.

Al however was grinning in the lopsided way that all Potters do.

"I'm off to bed then," Al said, still grinning, and with one last smirk back at the two of us, disappeared up the staircase to the boy's dorm.

"Care to explain?" I asked, sitting down in Al's vacated chair.

"Max Wood just asked me out," she said in horror.

My stomach squirmed upon hearing this.

I should've known really. Didn't Max ask me if Tess was single in the carriage on the way to school?

I have to admit, I was jealous of Tess at that moment. It's so unfair how she is blessed with gorgeous blonde hair and blue eyes, whilst I was stuck with red hair.

Red.

Eurgh.

For the second time that evening, all I could think of to say was: "Oh."

"I said, no, of course," she said as if stating the most obvious thing ever. "It was just so weird, he kind of ambushed me. He just came up to me and went down on one knee. I'm not even kidding, he asked to me to Hogsmeade whilst down on _one knee_!" She sounded horrified.

"He must like you," I replied a little sadly.

"Eurghh…Why me? He could have picked any other girl in this bloody castle, but he picked me!" She continued her pacing in front of the fire, looking absolutely sickened at the thought.

"You said no, he'll probably just get over it," I said.

"I suppose. I always thought he'd go for you, though."

"Heck no. He goes for pretty girls remember?" I reminded her.

"You are pretty," I snorted loudly, "Ok, maybe the baggy jumpers and the skirts below the knee don't do much for you, but trust me…"

Then a look came over her face.

I know that look.

That is the look she has when she has come up with some hideously evil plan, that more often than not, involves me.

"I know…"

"Please don't tell me you're involving me in anything to do with…"

"You like Max right?" she asked, her face still resembling that of a mischievous elf.

I blushed as a reply.  
"So how about we get him to like _you_?" she asked.

"I don't know…" I replied, wondering what this would involve.

"Come on, we just doll you up so you look absolutely fab for Hogsmeade, then he'll see you, get over me, and then you can go out with him if you want ," she said.

I wasn't sure the plan was going to work, but I decided to give it a go anyway. What could go wrong?


	6. Makeovers and Hogsmeade

**SIX**

"Oh no, I am _not _wearing that!"

Tess was waving a pathetic excuse for a skirt at me with a diabolically evil grin. My cousin, Lily, was sitting cross-legged on the bed eyeing us with a mixture of disapproval and hilarity. She had retreated to my dorm as a way of escaping Hugo who was challenging anyone that went within a two foot radius of him to a game of wizard chess.

He appears to have inherited our father's talent.

"Lily, tell her!" I screeched at Lily who was absorbed in reading the latest edition of the Quibbler. She glanced up lazily from her magazine.

"Tell her what?" she asked, looking at me quizzically.

"Tell her that I am not wearing that…that…" I said, struggling for words to describe the monstrosity I was being faced with.

Well, perhaps it wasn't that bad, but even so I did not want to risk falling over and flashing the whole of the Hogwarts student population my knickers.

"Tess?" Lily asked.

"Yes, Lily dearest," Tess replied.

"Please force my cousin to wear the item of clothing you are currently brandishing in front of her," she said, replicating Tess' evil grin.

Urgh. Even my own blood has turned against me.

Why did I agree to this?

"I don't want to do the plan any more!" I shouted frantically as Tess pulled out her wand, presumably to try and charm the skirt onto me.

"Come on, Rosieee!" she pleaded.

"Don't…" I started.

"I meant, Rose," she interjected, still looking at me with a pleading sad smile.

"Fine, but can't I wear something a little less…revealing?" I asked, giving the skirt a disgusted look.

"No," she said stubbornly, flashing me a grin. "It's the skirt or nothing."  
"You wouldn't dare…" I said.

She raised her wand, "You know I would. So what's it gonna be the skirt, or _naked_."

I rolled my eyes and dejectedly grabbed the skirt from her hands.

"The skirt, I guess," I mumbled, as she smirked triumphantly at me.

"Good. Now change, and I'll find you a top," she said, delving into the contents of her trunk.

I yanked the skirt on with disgust etched all over my freckled face.

"I will make you pay, Tess Taylor," I muttered angrily under my breath as I saw the expanse of leg that was being revealed.

Lily burst out laughing at the look on my face and I just gave her an irritated glare.

Tess finally decided on a plain red top and a brown jacket, because apparently it was quite cold.

"But if it's cold, then why am I wearing a skirt?" I said, sounding astonishingly child-like.

Tess gave me a look that where it was clear she was doing everything in her power to suppress herself from rolling her eyes.

"It's not _that _cold," Lily piped up from behind her magazine.

I glared at her. My attempt at dodging having to go out in public in 'the skirt' clearly hadn't worked.

***

"Ok, we came to Hogsmeade, I've seen a shop. Can't we head back now before any we know sees us?" I asked Tess pleadingly.

"No way, just keep walking," she replied.

Several tall Ravenclaw guys passed us and raised their eyebrows with a smirk.

I clutched Tess' arm.

"They're _laughing _at me!" I wailed miserably in her ear.

She batted me away with her bag.

"Don't be so stupid," she said, "they're not _laughing _at you. They think you look nice."

"No they don't, they think I've taken fashion tips off the giant squid," I sniffed.

Tess stopped and turned to me with an amused smile. "Rose Weasley, stop being so bloody stupid! You look fab so stop worrying that people are laughing at you!"

I grunted in reply and we carried on walking.

Tess laughed.

"What now?" I asked grumpily, peering around Hogsmeade and inwardly begging that all the sixth years at Hogwarts had decided to stay behind for the day.

"Just…you…you're hilarious when you're grumpy," she giggled.

I punched her lightly on the arm but giggled myself.

We finally arrived at the high street of Hogsmeade, and were casually walking up it, presumably heading for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, which is right up the end opposite the post office.

"Stop," Tess whispered urgently as we passed some sort of dress robe store. We pretended to peer in at the robes as Tess spoke to me in an undertone. "Wood is coming this way. Act pretty, smile and flick your hair, you know the drill."  
"What drill? I don't know the drill!" I replied anxiously in a whisper.

"Just flirt," she muttered urgently back.

"But…"

She gave me a look.

Clearly she doesn't understand that I am incapable of flirting. You'd think she would know that being my best friend, but obviously not.

"Hey, Tess," I heard a deep manly voice behind me so I turned round with a small nervous smile. It was Max.

"Hi, Max," Tess said with a squeak.

"Can I take you for a drink? Or perhaps you'd like to visit Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" he asked, flashing her a glimpse of his perfect white teeth.

"I'm with a friend," Tess said motioning towards me, in what I perceived to be a completely obvious and suspicious manner. I frowned at her.

Max looked at me once, then turned back to Tess.

"I'm sure she won't mind," he said.

Tess looked extremely worried that her plan wasn't successful. I knew it wasn't going to work from the beginning.

Before I could even say 'Hey, mate, actually I do mind!' Max had whisked Tess off to the joke store.

She turned round and gave me one last panicked and slightly apologetic look before being pushed into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

I didn't really want to abandon her, but nor could I really see what I could do to get her away from Max. Besides, the shop was completely packed as it was and it would've taken me hours to squeeze through the crowd to find them.

I began to walk, slightly miserably, down the high street with the intention of returning back to the castle to find Lily, or maybe Al.

But, wait. Wasn't that him there?

Sure enough, despite having told us he wasn't going to Hogsmeade today (Quidditch practice I had assumed), Al was standing outside the sweet shop eating a chocolate frog.

I walked quickly over to him.

"Hey, Al!" I said, as cheerily as I could muster.

"Hey…Rose?" he choked on his chocolate.

"Are you ok?" I asked giving him a pat on the back.

He nodded, then looked wide-eyed at me. "You're wearing a _skirt_!?" he exclaimed incredulously.

"You have your sister to thank for that," I said.

He continued to stare open mouthed at me. I tugged down at the hem of my skirt involuntarily then muttered, "What are you staring at?"

"Nothing…I'm just shocked, that's all. Where's Tess?" he asked.

"Whisked away by Max," I replied and he frowned.

"I thought she didn't like him?" he asked, apparently worried.

"No, she doesn't. He just dragged her off before I could do anything," I said and he looked a little consoled.

"Ahh, she'll be fine. If a little bored, his quidditch tales are dull. Do you wanna go grab a butterbeer?"

I nodded and we headed off to The Three Broomsticks. Just as we neared the door, Zabini and Malfoy walked out. Malfoy glanced at me and then sneered at Al.

"Isn't she a bit out of your league, Potter?" he asked, looking from Al to me and then back at Al again.

I blinked.

Hold on…was Malfoy suggesting…

Err….GROSS!

Al and I exchanged looks and then burst out laughing. Malfoy and Zabini looked completely stumped as to why we found it so amusing.

Seriously, are they into incest or something? Or maybe they just don't recognize me?

I swear I don't look that much different.

"Malfoy…why…would I date…Rose?" Al spluttered through his laughter.

"What has Rose got to do with this?" Malfoy asked angrily, his grey eyes flashing.

Al stopped laughing and we once again exchanged a look. Though this time our faces displayed pure confusion. Did Malfoy _honestly _not recognize me?

"Err…hello?" I said, waving my hands in front of eyes.

"Hi, gorgeous," Malfoy said, throwing me a casual wink.

Seriously. Can he not keep his hideous albino hormones at bay for _one second_?

"Uh…Malfoy…?" Al said smirking. Malfoy turned to look at him with a sneer.

"What is it Potter?" he snapped, clearly surprised that he wasn't reacting to Malfoy hitting on his apparent girlfriend.

Ahh…the irony!

"It's me…Rose," I said, pointing at myself. Zabini's mouth dropped open – I was worried it was going to hit the floor – and Malfoy choked on…apparently nothing. Al covered his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter.

"My mistake," Malfoy said, staring at me incredulously. "I thought you just said you were Rose."

"She is Rose, you moron," Al said, pushing me into The Three Broomsticks.

"Weasley?" Zabini managed to stutter out. "Well, you look…different…" he said looking from my flip flop clad feet to my loose hair. I suddenly felt very aware of how short my skirt was.

The look on Malfoy's face was absolutely priceless as we shut the door in his astonished face.

We sat down at a free table, took one look at each other's face and then burst out laughing. When Tess arrived five minutes later, after apparently escaping from Max we continued to laugh hysterically, trying to tell her what had happened through our peals of laughter.

"_Malfoy hit on you!"_ she exclaimed when we'd finally finished relating the tale to her.

We nodded, our stomachs aching from all the laughter.

"At least one good thing came out of this make-over!" she said with a grin.

"Err…good?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.

"Yeah…you have evidence against him next time he insults your hair colour!" she giggled.


	7. A detentionof sorts

**SEVEN**

"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!!!"

The majority of people who were eating dinner in the hall turned round to look at the large oak doors where a small blonde girl, namely Tess, was standing, her hands on her hips looking murderous.

This was a pretty much regular sight as the number of times that Al had done something stupid causing Tess to scream his full name at the entire population of Hogwarts was shocking.

However, not once before had Tess been covered from head to foot in ink.

"Oh shit," Al said, his eyes as wide as saucers and he ducked under the table as Tess started walking towards where we were sitting. "Oh shit, shit, shit!"

I presumed that this was the prank he had been planning to get back at Tess for winning the exploding snap game, and started laughing at the look on Tess' (ink-covered) face when she finally stopped in front of Al's abandoned chair. He wasn't exactly doing a good job at hiding, as ducking under the table didn't award many benefits, Tess could still…

"_Furnunculus!"_ she screeched.

Yeah…Tess could still do that.

A second later Al emerged from his 'hiding place' with a collection of nasty boils covering his face and hands. He looked in horror at his distorted skin and then whipped out his wand, but before he could even think of a hex to send Tess' way, I disarmed him and Tess and grabbed both of their wands.

"Rose! Give me my wand, I need to hex Al into oblivion," she said in a fake sweet voice whilst giving Al a death glare.

"What exactly did he do?" I said with a giggle, observing my currently blue friend as she dripped ink onto the stone flagons.

"_IT_ sent me a letter which once opened _exploded_ covering the whole of the Gryffindor common room in ink!" she said angrily, folding her arms with an angry look at Al, who burst out laughing.

"It worked better than I though it would! The WHOLE of Gryffindor common ro – " he stopped at the look on her face, and turned to look at me. I was trying my hardest not to completely burst out laughing, even though I knew Al had broken about 10 school rules.

"You better go clean it up before McGonagall finds out," I said, with a grin. Tess glared at me. "Or…" I added, trying to get rid of my grin, "I'll write to your mother."

Tess smirked at Al.

"Awww…Rosie..." he pleaded. I just gave him a look.

He, of all people, should know how much I hate being called Rosie.

"Woops…" he said with a sheepish grin.

"Well, well, well, what's going on _here_?" I heard a voice from behind me sneer.

I know that sneering tone all too well.

I turned around and sure enough…

"Nothing of your business, Malfoy," Al said, replicating the sneer that I could imagine was currently plastered all over Malfoy's hideously conceited face.

"Looking good, Potter," he said sarcastically, with a snort. "And, Taylor?" he added. "The smurf look totally suits you."

Tess just rolled her eyes and I distinctly thought I heard her say, 'boys, honestly!' under her breath.

"Err…Tess, shall we go?" I asked, not wanting to be involved in another Potter/Malfoy fight, which have been going on since first year. Though they did calm down a little in fourth year when Malfoy was…dare I say it…my _friend._  
God knows how that actually happened.

"Yeah sure," she replied, with a worried look at Al who was currently squaring up to Malfoy with narrowed eyes.

"Wait, Weasley, I came to talk to you…" Malfoy began, ignoring the disbelieving snort from Al. "Our detention's tonight in the Hospital Wing."

"Oh, thanks," I said without smiling. Then Tess and I hurried off so that I could give her the password to the prefect bathroom. After all, she was completely blue and did need a good bath.

***  
"Unfortunately for you, the hospital wing is completely empty so you can clean every bed. I'm going to go the staffroom if you need me. I expect these beds to be shining by the time I get back," Madame Pomfrey said, before shuffling off.

"This is house-elf work," Malfoy said, kicking the edge of one of the beds then clutching his foot in agony.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Smooth, Malfoy," I said with a chuckle.

He gave me an arrogant smirk. "I always am."

"I was being sarcastic."  
"Let's just finish this. Contrary to popular belief, I don't exactly enjoy being in your company," he drawled pompously.

"Ditto," I say.

Though I am wondering what this 'popular belief' has been saying.

I dropped down to my knees and grabbed the cloth that was next to a bucket of lukewarm soapy water. I dropped it in and then rolling up my sleeves, put my hands in and with a sigh wrung it out before starting to wipe the metal bed frames. The beds were unnaturally dirty, I wouldn't have been surprised if she had purposely dirtied them just to irritate us. After about five minutes of mechanically cleaning the bed whilst my mind drifted off and started thinking about Al's prank and whether I would write to his mother.

It took me one side of a bed to decide that I wouldn't bother as long as he cleaned up the common room.

I was brought of my reverie by a hushed frantic whisper coming from the doorway.

"Is she gone?"

Completely befuddled I looked up and saw Zabini peering round the edge of the door looking at the two of us (Malfoy and I) who were resolutely ignoring each other.

"Hey, Rose," he whispered with a suave grin.

"What are you doing here?" I asked bemused. Has he come to join in our detention or something?

That is very un-Slytherin-like.

"Is she gone?" he repeated, with a frantic look around the room to see if the withering old lady that is our nurse is there.

"She went off to the staffroom," Malfoy piped up, looking a little less disgruntled now that his friends have arrived.

Zabini walked in, clapping his hands together. "Excellent!" He is followed in by a small selection of Slytherin 6th years.

All of whom are male.

Kill me now.

"We have firewhiskey, my friend," Ben Nott said, holding up two large bottles that are full to the brim of an orangey-red drink – firewhiskey. And judging by the colour of that, quite strong firewhiskey.

Oh sweet Merlin.

What am I supposed to do? I couldn't escape as I'd get in trouble, nor could I stay as I would most likely be forced into drinking by the sneaky Slytherins who were currently forming a circle on the floor. I was busy going through the pros and cons of my various options, that I didn't notice Miranda walk in until she came and stood next to me.

"Ah, Weasley on the floor. In her place, finally," she sneered down at me.

"Hey, Miranda, give it a rest," I heard Zabini say in between swigs of firewhiskey. "Hey, Rose, come on and join in!"

See what I mean? I just knew that they would invite me in.

"Uh…well…" I said, trying to formulate some sort of polite way of saying, 'No way in hell'.

"Didn't know you were a chicken, Weasley," Malfoy drawled, with his eyebrows raised.

"I'm not…I just…." I stuttered. Ben Nott began to make chicken noises.

"Are you a Gryffindor or not? I thought they were supposed to be _brave_," Malfoy sneered at me.

"Getting drunk during a detention is not a sign of bravery," I replied, worried that Malfoy was getting his definitions mixed up.

"True. It just makes you boring, maybe you should have been a Hufflepuff."

With more confidence than I was aware I possessed I flopped cross-legged on the floor opposite Malfoy, and without removing my gaze from his took a long swig of firewhiskey.

Immediately after, I regretted my decision as my throat was burning. I blinked my eyes shut tightly to stop them from watering.

I locked my eyes onto his again. "I'm not boring."

Malfoy leant back with a smirk and rested on his hands. "Touché."

*

After an hour, and ten more swigs of firewhiskey on my part, I had completely forgotten the fact that I was in detention and was conversing in a surprisingly friendly, albeit drunken, manner with Miranda.

Miranda giggled. "Look at Ben!" She put her hand over her mouth and continued to giggle manically.

I looked over to where she was looking and saw Ben Nott removing his school uniform to cheers from his drunken friends. Normally, this would have been the point where I either hexed him, or put him in detention, but in my current intoxicated state I replied with a fit of giggles to rival that of the giggle queen herself, Miranda.

"Nice pants, Nott!" I shouted over at him as he threw his trousers at Zabini's head and posed in his blue stripy boxers. He blushed furiously.

"Would you like them…uh…Weasley?" he said with a bit of a slur. Miranda and I exchanged a look and burst out into a fit of giggles. I have to say that when this girl is drunk, she is actually bearable. Not that I would ever tell Al this, as he dislikes her greatly.

At this point, Zabini stood up with a bit of a stumble and taking another gulp from his bottle announced, "Let's play truth or dare!" Miranda jumped to her feet, equally disorientated, and stumbled over to the group of 5 Slytherin boys.

"In a circle," she demanded, in drunken bossy voice.

I got up and dropped on the floor next to Zabini and another Slytherin boy whose name I didn't know.

"Hello, beautiful," Zabini said with a flourish and I blew him a kiss.

"Oi, Leo, out the way! As the only other girl, I'm sitting next to Rose!" Miranda said, giving Zabini a gentle kick to move him out the way. Zabini shuffled over, but before Miranda could sit down –

"Malfoy!!!" she said, stamping her foot like a toddler who wants its own way.

"I got here first!" he said with a cheeky grin at her.

"Fine then, Pucey, shove over!" she said with a mock sweet grin at the burly guy sitting next to me. He grunted then shuffled around the circle a bit to let her in.

Zabini put his hand high in the air, in the manner of someone asking for a professor's help. Nott, who was still only wearing his boxers, said, "Yes, Zabini." He sounded scarily like a professor that I did a double-take.

"I've got one. A truth, for everyone. We go around and everyone answers it," he said, sounding very smug. I giggled, earning myself an amused look from Malfoy.

"Go on," Nott said, raising an eyebrow to urge him to continue.

"What's your favourite…colour?" he asked dumbly.

"That's stupid," Pucey said, "I got one. Have you ever kissed anyone in this room?"

Zabini flung his hand in the air again with a grin plastered over his handsome features, "ME FIRST!" he shouted. We all looked at him expectantly, "No," he said and grinned.

"I thought I was the boring one," I said with a giggle and Zabini laughed.

It was Nott next, so we all looked at him. He turned bright red. "It was an accident, I swear!"

"What was?" Zabini asked, with a sneaky smile. "Who was it?"

Nott put his head down and mumbled something incoherent.

"What, Ben? Didn't quite catch that?" Pucey said, smirking.

"Vaisey," Nott said and all of us turned to look at Vaisey who had his head in his hands. He looked up and saw us looking at his questioningly.

"What?" he asked, nervously. "We were drunk." He added shrugging as if that explained everything. Miranda and I both burst out into giggles.

"Vaisey? Any more to add?" Zabini asked Vaisey who shrugged in return then turned to Pucey.

"Your turn, now."

"No," he said and turned to Miranda.

"Me neither," she said with a giggle.

Then everyone's eyes were on me. The image flashed into my memory: _"No way, hose," he said with a smirk. That was when his lips crashed down onto mine._

Had my brain been in correct working order I would have obviously lied. I did not want a bunch of Slytherins to know what happened between Malfoy and I, and I'm sure Malfoy didn't either.

But unfortunately for the both of us, I was drunk.

"Of course I have!" I squealed with a giggle.

Everyone's mouths dropped open. Malfoy definitely didn't tell them then.

"Don't look at me," Zabini said, "She wouldn't let me near her!" He put his hands up in the air as if he was cornered by the police or something.

"Who was it then?" Nott said, glad that the attention had finally been taken away from him and his little encounter with Vaisey.

I sneaked a sideways look at Malfoy who's eyes were wide open. He grinned and shrugged.

"Malfoy," I said confidently.


	8. A dare only leads to detention

**EIGHT**

Zabini clutched his stomach laughing, "That's better than Nott snogging a _guy_!"

"Not just any guy…._Vaisey!_" Pucey added, also in hysterical laughter.

"Oi!" Nott said, also laughing.

"You're kidding right?" Zabini said looking at me.

"It was an accident!" Malfoy finally piped up, still grinning.

Hold on.

Now, I may not be that experienced in the matters of dating etc. but I think I can safely say that what happened in the corridor outside the Fat Lady that time was _not_ an accident. If it had been an accident then he wouldn't have ignored me for a year and half. He would probably have gone, 'Sorry mate, I just tripped' instead of looking extremely awkward and walking away with his shoulders slumped.

I elbowed Malfoy, as he surveyed the rest of them laughing their heads off.

"An accident?" I whispered to him questioningly.

"It's…um…well….it's kind of complicated. It's not that…what I'm trying to say is…" he stammered. I gave him one look then started laughing as well as everyone else and before long he joined in as well.

"Enough Gentlemen," Zabini said, through bursts of laughter. Miranda coughed loudly. "And ladies, of course," he added giving us both lazy winks. "I think it is time for dares. I'll spin the bottle to see who'll go first." He leant forward a little wobbily and put an empty firewhiskey bottle in the middle of the circle. He spun it quickly and it whizzed round before landing on…Pucey.

"I dare you…" Zabini announced dramatically, "to lick your elbow."

I rolled my eyes and giggled. Pucey attempted to lick his elbow and failed. Then clearly, the fact that he was a wizard occurred to him, "En…Engawt…No. Engon…no….Engorgio," he said pointing at his tongue. It expanded rapidly and then touched his elbow.

I giggled harder than ever at the ridiculous sight of Pucey with an enormous tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Nott finally leant forward and muttered the counter-spell so Pucey's tongue returned to its normal size.

"Very good, Pucey," Zabini said as Pucey leant forward to spin the bottle for the next person.

The bottle span around and finally slowed to a stop directly in between Miranda and myself.

"It's nearer her!" I squealed, flinging myself onto Malfoy in an attempt to get away from the dare.

"Actually, this dare can be for the both of you," Pucey said, with a glint in his eye.

Oh no.

Please…don't ask something like…

"Ladies…I dare you to remove your clothes. You can keep your underwear on, but only because I'm nice."  
Merlin's pants.

What a perverted lot of guys.

All of them were looking our way with the same sneaky glint that Pucey had in his eye and with identical diabolical evil grins.

"We're waiting, ladies. Or your forfeit can be…you have to snog a blast ended skrewt," Vaisey said, smirking.

I wasn't sure about it, but with a look at Miranda, who gave me a cheeky nod, I figured I better do it if she was. Besides, I don't think I would be able to keep my head if I had to kiss a blast ended skrewt. I clambered off Malfoy and stood up next to Miranda where we both began to undress.

Our techniques were slightly different. Miranda was slowly removing her clothing throwing cheeky drunken winks at the drooling guys in the circle, whereas I was fumbling nervously with the buttons on my shirt, trying not to meet any of their eyes.

Soon, both of us were standing there in our matching underwear, giggling our heads off as we sat down and the guys gave us approving nods.

"I think Miranda's hotter," Nott said, clearly not realising he was talking out loud.

"Well, you're gay aren't you? Look at Rose, who knew she was hiding all that under her baggy uniform!" Zabini said, exchanging a look with Vaisey and Pucey opposite him.

"We are in the room, you idiots!" I reminded them with a giggle. Miranda looked a little taken aback at the boy's opinions, so I turned to her still giggling, "Don't listen to those morons." I told her trying to be serious.

To no avail.

I was now officially drunk, that was pretty much the only reason that I was sitting in a room in nothing but my bra and knickers surrounded by five drunk Slytherin guys. And one drunk, and equally half naked Gryffindor girl. Who normally hated my guts.

What a funny world.

Nott stood up, looking extremely unbalanced on his feet, and grabbed Miranda's clothes with a very unmanly giggle, "I'm gonna throw these out the window," he said with a grin at Zabini and Malfoy.

"No you are _not!_" Miranda screeched, getting up and chasing him around the room.

"I'll take Rose's" Malfoy said with grin, grabbing my clothes and jumping up.

"Don't you _dare_!" I squealed, trying to grab them from behind his back. He held them high above his head and I jumped up to reach them.  
"Over here Malfoy!" Zabini said, jumping up, then falling over again. Then getting up unsteadily and holding his hands out ready to catch. Malfoy chucked them over at him and I tried to run at him, but was held back by Malfoy's strong arm slipping round my waist and holding me back.

I hit his arm, "Get off!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

Shit.

Oh shit times a hundred.

I turned to face the door and saw Professor Ackerley and Madame Pomfrey standing in the doorway with faces like thunder.

Then I turned to look around at the situations we were in. Vaisey and Pucey were still swigging more and more firewhiskey, apparently having some sort of competition. Nott was lying on the floor with Miranda straddling him trying to grab her clothes back. This was made worse by the fact they were both in their underwear. Finally, Zabini was clutching my clothes whilst swaying about on his feet looking as if he was about to collapse, and I was standing half-naked with Malfoy's arm around me.

I could kind of see why they may have been slightly mad.

"Nott, Vaisey, Pucey, Zabini and Greene what are you doing here?" Pomfrey asked looking murderous.

"Well, madame," Zabini said, "There is a very reasonable explan – " he began, and then finally passed out, something which his wobbling about had been suggesting for the last half hour.

"Disgraceful! And two of you are _prefects!_" Ackerley said, folding his arms angrily.

There were two prefects? Oh yeah, I forgot, Zabini was the prefect for Slytherin.

"Detention, all of you! For the next week!" Pomfrey hissed.

I giggled and received a disapproving glare from Ackerley.

"To BED!" I shouted, pointing out of the door, his face an extremely unattractive shade of purple. "And for God's sake put some clothes on Weasley, Greene and Nott."

Malfoy finally released me and I went over to Zabini who had just come around, but wasn't exactly looking that healthy.

I grabbed my clothes from his hands and pulled on my skirt and shirt roughly.

I held my shoes in one hand and my jumper in the other and walked past the disappointed looks of Pomfrey and Ackerley and started making my way up to the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey, Weasley, wait up!" I heard a voice call down the corridor. I turned around and saw Malfoy running up to me.

"What?" I questioned.

"I just want to say, I still hate you," he said with a smirk, but his tone was lacking venom.

How charming.

"Ditto," I said, replicating his smirk.

A fraction of a second later his lips were on mine, and then before I could say anything, he was sprinting away down the corridor.

I raised my fingers to my lips hesitantly.

What was _that_?

I walked back to the common room in a daze and found Al and Tess waiting for me, looking extremely confused when I walked in my clothes messily thrown on, and carrying my shoes.

"Where have you been?" Tess demanded, as Al looked at me in shock of my condition.

"Hospital Wing, with the Slytherins," I said, and as I took a step towards them, toppled a little.

"Are you _drunk?_" Al asked horrified.

"Yes…no…we played truth or dare," I said and giggled.

"She's not in a good condition," Tess stated, her eyes wide as she examined me.

"Wonderful perception, Captain Obvious," Al muttered sarcastically.

"Don't be sarcastic to me, this is not the time," Tess said.

"When is the time? After you've hexed me to be covered in boils?" he demanded angrily.

"Uh…guys I feel a bit dizzy," I said, putting my hand out to steady myself. But they both ignored me and continued to argue.

"I only did that because you covered me in _ink!_"

"Yeah, well…"

"Yeah, well…what?"

I no longer felt just dizzy, my head felt like I was on a merry-go-round and my vision was like a kaleidoscope.

Then my vision went black.

As I lost consciousness I heard, "Stop arguing with me, Rose just passed out!"

"Shit! Rose, you ok?"


	9. Please don't send a howler

**NINE**

I woke up and the first thing I notice is that my head is thumping as if there are a load of trolls bumbling about in there and hitting the inside of my skull with their huge clubs.

I sat up putting one hand to my head from the pain of the headache.

Then it occurred to me. Why on earth did I have a headache?

I was rarely ill, and even though I normally spend hours working in the dark library I never get headaches like Al always seems to. Though I reckon he makes some of them up to escape revision.

That was when it dawned on me.

I had a hangover.

I'd gotten _drunk_ last night. In _detention!_

Merlin. I was so unworthy of my prefects badge.

Memories of what happened the night before in the hospital wing began to filter through. Firewhiskey…lots of firewhiskey…the five Slytherins…truth or dare…Pucey daring me and Miranda to take off our clothes.

Oh god. I didn't really prance about in my bra and knickers did I?

Well, suffice to say, alcohol certainly does loosen one up. If not make one completely mental and do stupid things. Like strip in front of the Slytherins…and Malfoy…

It was quite light already and the only other person still in bed was Miranda who had just let out a humungous snore. I couldn't help but giggle.

Then I wish I hadn't because it made my head hurt even more.

Miranda let out a huge yawn and then sat up.

"Aaah! My _head_!" she groaned.

"Me too," I said, still massaging my scalp in an attempt to make my headache go away.

Miranda looked up at me and smiled. Wow. That was the first sign of sober friendship I'd had from her since we started school back in first year.

"You know, I used to think you were a little bit…well…boring. But actually, you're really not," she said, a little nervous of insulting me.

"That's ok. I guess I was a bit boring," I said with a slight chuckle which made my head start throbbing even worse again.

"No really, I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you," she said.

Who knew this day would ever come? The day when Miranda apologized for being a bitch to me.

"You were never that bad," I reasoned.

"Actually, I was. I feel awful now, and not just because I have the worst hangover that I've had in ages," she said with a lazy smile.

"Hey, I forgive you. But only if you stop me ever from drinking that much firewhiskey again," I replied and we both laughed and then groaned because the laughing hurt our heads.

"Shall we head down to breakfast?" she asked, flicking back her duvet and grabbing her school uniform.

"Sure," I replied. So I got up and found a clean shirt got changed.

***

"So….Rose…what exactly happened to you last night?" Tess asked me as I sat at the Gryffindor table stuffing my face with cornflakes.

"Huh? Nothing…just detention," I lied.

"Rose, don't lie," she said with a smirk that could rival Malfoy's, "we saw you come back to the common room completely wasted, say something about Slytherins and the Hospital Wing and then you passed out."

Oh.

I grinned sheepishly.

"I'll beat them up if you want," said Al showing me his clenched fist and peering over at the Slytherin table where Pucey, Vaisey, Nott, Zabini and Malfoy were looking a little worse for wear.

"Stop showing off, Al. You couldn't beat up five Slytherins," Tess said rolling her eyes at him.

"How did you know there were five?" I asked her.  
"Because there are only five Slytherins looking like crap this morning," she replied, "Anyway, what did happen?"

"Well, they turned up at the beginning of our detention with firewhiskey. I drank it to prove I wasn't a coward and then, well it's a bit of a blur," I said, taking another large bite of toast.

"So you don't remember any of your drunken antics?" Tess asked a little disappointed.

"Well, we played truth or dare. Can you believe that Nott and Vaisey once snogged accidentally!" I told them in a whisper so no one else would hear.

Al burst out laughing.

"Yeah, well that's not the weirdest bit. Miranda was there too, and surprisingly we actually got on. She's really nice once you get to know her," I told them as they stared back astonished at me.

"I'm still not going out with her," Al announced. Tess and I laughed.

"Talking of dates, how are things with you and Max?" I asked Tess with a smirk. It may be unbelievable, but after the incident at the weekend where Max had completely ignored me I figured that no matter how pretty I made myself, he would never like me. So I've given up on him.

I think I only liked him because he was really hot anyway. Let's face it, he's not exactly someone you can have a decent conversation with anyway.

And he seems to have some sort of huge crush on Tess, which Al and I find absolutely hilarious because she is probably the only girl in the whole school who detests him.

"Eurgh…Max…" she shivered involuntarily, "He just follows me around _all the time_. It is so annoying."

"Do you want me to beat him up for you Tess?" Al said, posing to make him look as macho as possible, when in reality he just looked like a bit of an idiot.

"Show off," Tess coughed.

"I think she'll be fine Al," I said with a smile.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't offer," he replied. "Anyway, is no one going to ask me about my magnificent news?"

"No," Tess and I said simultaneously.

Al pretended to look deeply hurt, "Well, you should ask, especially you Tess, seeing as it concerns you."  
"Oooh, what?? Tell…please?" Tess pleaded.

Al shook his head and folded his arms as Tess tugged on his sleeve and gave him her puppy dog eyes. Finally he gave in, "Fine, I'll tell you. You know the Quidditch match?"

Tess nodded. "The Chudley Cannons one."

"Yeah. Well, my dad got us invites to the after party! We get to meet all the players!" Al said excitedly, "And Rose you can come too if you want, that way you can have the party without the match!"

"Wow! That's really cool!" I replied with a grin. Tess squealed and enveloped Al in a huge hug. Al looked at me over her blonde head and when I caught his eye, he blushed furiously. I grinned at him and raised my eyebrow knowingly.

"I _love _your dad!" she said.

"And me. You love me too," Al reminded her.

"Of course I love you too, but your dad is the one who got the tickets so he is the one I love at the moment," she said with the tone of explaining apparition to a three year old.

Al grinned.

***

"Hi," I said before I sat down next to Malfoy at our table in Transfiguration. After the detention I figured that maybe he didn't hate me so much, and therefore I would reduce the risk of getting another detention thanks to him.

My theory was correct as he smiled at me when I sat down.

"Hey, Weasley," he said, making space for me to fit my books and my quill.

McGonagall came in and started talking so I began taking notes, occasionally looking up to watch McGonagall's demonstrations. I was half way through copying some notes down from the board when a note landed in front of me. I paused my quill and looked up to see where it had come from. No one was turning my way. I opened up the crinkled paper.

**did i really offer you my pants**

**yesterday? – Ben**

I laughed, and looked at Ben Nott. He turned round and then indicated that I should reply. I dipped my quill into my ink and wrote a reply. Soon, he threw it back again.

_Yes you did. I had to refuse because_

_they were your last remaining item of _

_clothing. _

**my apologies. I had to ask – zabini**

**was laughing at me this morning. By**

**the way…do you think Miranda would**

**go out with me?**

He looked back at me after throwing this one, and in reply to his question I shrugged, then mouthed 'probably'.

"What are you doing on Halloween?" Malfoy suddenly piped up in a whisper.

"Uh…well there's the dance, but I don't know if I'm going yet…" I replied, quietly.

"Do you…er…do you…" he stammered. I raised my eyebrows urging him to go on.

"Weasley, can I have a word with you please?" McGonagall's voice came from the front of the class.

I slipped off my chair and went up to her. The rest of the class was busy practicing the spell she had just taught us.

"I heard from Professor Ackerley what happened on your detention yesterday," she stated sounding extremely disappointed.

"I'm really sorry professor, I'm disappointed in myself too," I told her, shame-facedly.

"It's alright. Sometimes we have to have fun, though obviously I'd rather it wasn't in a detention I set," she gave me a withered old smile.

I looked at her quite shocked. I was honestly expecting her to get mad at me.

"I don't approve of it, if that's what you think," she reminded me, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to write to your mother about it. I feel its something she needs to be aware of."

One word: Shit.

Mum will explode! This is the first time I've got in trouble since…well…since ever!

I crossed my fingers. Please don't send a howler, please don't send a how-

"You can go back to your desk now," she told me, "And don't worry, just make sure it doesn't happen again."

Please don't send a howler.


	10. A birthday surprise

**TEN**

I don't think I have actually ever heard my dad scream any louder in my life, than when the howler arrived. At least he had the decency to send it in the evening so only Gryffindor had to be subjected to his dulcet tones. I could just picture his ears glowing bright red like they always do when he's mad at Hugo.

"…_disgusted by you! If you ever get drunk at school ever again I will come down there and drag you home…"_

When the howler finally stopped screeching and tore itself to pieces in front of my horrified face, the common room was completely silent. Slowly the common room inhabitants began to chatter again and I was left to stop Al from laughing.

For some reason he finds other people getting told off hilarious.

"Oi, shut up, or next time you get a howler I'll laugh at you," I said kicking his foot.

Al finally stopped laughing, but still had a huge grin plastered all over his face.

"You have to admit, it is kind of funny though, I mean…_perfect prefect _Rose Weasley getting in trouble," he said, but cut off at the look on my face.

"Don't remind me…I'll never make Head Girl now," I said, sulking.

"Yeah you will. Even with this little mishap under your belt, you're still the best behaved sixth year," Al replied, casually ruffling his hair.

I sighed. I sure hoped that this wouldn't make a difference to my odds at becoming Head Girl. It sounds fairly pathetic, but that is my dream – to be Head Girl of Hogwarts.

From that moment I resolved to not get in trouble again.

Fat chance – I'm related to _Albus _remember?

"By the way, it's Tess' birthday tomorrow," Al said quietly, with a quick look around as though it was a secret he didn't want anyone else to hear.

"Shockingly, I am well aware of that fact," I replied sarcastically.

Al rolled his eyes, "We're going to have a party in the Gryffindor common room," he muttered back, trying to look inconspicuous.

See what I mean? With Al being my cousin, the chances of me making it through the rest of the nine months of the year without getting in trouble were pretty slim.

"Why are we whispering?" I whispered back.

"I don't want the prefects on our tail," he replied with a sneaky look at me.

"Err…Al?"

"Yeah?"  
"I'm a prefect," I said with a grin.

"Oh…yeah…but you wouldn't tell on your own cousin, would you?" he asked nervously, as if expecting me to sprint off to McGonagall's office that instant and spurt out all of his party plans – none of which I actually knew at the time of course, seeing as he was taking so long to tell me.

"Of course I wouldn't," I said, and he looked relieved. "What are you planning?"

"Just your average party with an open invite, and several gallons of firewhiskey…" he smirked at me.

"No way am I coming to this! Firewhiskey and Rose Weasley don't mix!" I screeched in his ear.

"Aww come on! It's Tess' birthday, you can't let her down!" he pleaded.

"You're only doing this party because you feel bad about covering her in ink aren't you?" I asked with a smirk.

He blushed furiously.

"Uh…no…well…partly. And partly because she's my friend, of course," he replied, as I laughed at his worried face.

"I wouldn't not go to Tess' party, idiot!" I told him, as he still seemed worried that I was going to miss it. "But I am steering well clear of anything alcoholic."

Al laughed, "Yeah, that might be for the best!"

"Do you think she'll like it?" Al asked nervously, as he paced up and down in front of the fire in the common room the next morning, eyeing the parcel in his hands with a worried frown. He'd bought her a deep purple dress, well actually his mother, my Aunt Ginny, bought her a purple dress, and he was worried that she wouldn't like it.

Apparently he doesn't trust his mother's taste. Personally, I wouldn't trust _his_ taste, and thought that anything Aunt Ginny picked out would be nice.

"Of course she will, now stop worrying, she's coming down in a minute," I said in an attempt to calm him down. He put the parcel down on the table nervously, sat down for several seconds, then resumed his pacing.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!" Tess screeched as she flew down the stairs into the common room and pulled Al and I into a huge group hug. "I'M 17!"

"Oi, keep it down, you'll pop my eardrums!" I said with a smile, pulling away from the hug.

"Presents!" Al shouted, and gave me an apologetic grin when I clamped my hands over my ears in mock pain.

"Presents! I love you guys!" She squealed and pulled us each into another hug before kneeling down on the floor next to the table and grabbing the first present.

She tore the wrapping away surprisingly quickly, for the amount of time it took me to wrap it.

"It's gorgeous, Rose!" she said, pulling the ruby necklace I bought her out of its box and hanging it delicately around her neck. "Wow! Thank you so much!"

"That's ok," I said with a smile and gave her a huge hug.

"Mine now," Al said with a child-like grin.

She picked up the next parcel and tore through the wrapping. Carefully, she pulled out the purple dress and gasped.

"Al! This is amazing!" she gushed, still engrossed by the amazing dress. I think that at the moment, Al was eating his words in his head. His mum clearly has amazing taste because that dress was absolutely beautiful. It was made of a thick silky fabric and fell in pretty ruffles. Even me, someone completely immune to fashion, could tell that it was fabulous. "Thank you!" she squeaked, and putting the dress down, she flung her arms around Al, who caught my eye over her blonde locks and I noticed his bright red face.

I smirked at him and he just turned redder (if that were even possible) and smiled nervously back.

"I know it's your birthday, but we still have lessons," I reminded her five minutes later when she was reading various letters from her family wishing her happy birthday.

"Oh yeah. I'll just take my stuff upstairs," she said with another look at the dress and the necklace. "Thank you!" she said for about the fiftieth time in the past ten minutes.

Al and I rolled our eyes simultaneously, "Just take them up, we want to nab the warm toast first," Al said, thinking of his stomach as usual.

A minute later, Tess came bounding down the stairs and we went off to the Great Hall. Sitting at the Gryffindor table, she got various people from our lessons coming over and wishing her happy birthday and in Max's case giving her a flamboyant present of flowers.

"Uh…thank you, Max," she said, with a voice that to everyone but Max clearly said that she wanted him to go away.

"No problem, anything for a beautiful girl," he said with a wink, and for the first time ever I got the impression that he was being a bit of a slimeball. Finally he loped off and with a wink at Tess, left the hall.

I caught Al's eye and we both burst out laughing. Tess' face of confusion turned to us and she rolled her eyes at our immaturity then carried on eating her breakfast.

"What is it with him?" she finally said after she had finished her jam on toast.

"I think he likes you," Al said, a touch of jealousy evident in his tone, but Tess didn't pick up on this.

"Thank you, Captain _duhh!_," she said with a laugh.

"Al's right. You want to watch out for that one, or you'll have an unwanted date to the Halloween ball," I reminded her and she shivered in disgust.

"There is no way I'm going with him. Besides, we have the Cannon's match and the after party," she said with a grin at Al, who grinned back. And they launched into an animated conversation about the match as we picked up our bags and meandered our way through the other students to get out of the hall. As a non-Quidditch-lover I couldn't really join in their conversation, mainly because I had no idea what they were talking about.

"…no way, the cannon's will probably catch the snitch, I mean…"

Suddenly, I felt a warm hand land on my shoulder, and I turned round.

"Uh…hi," Malfoy said, running a hand through his unruly platinum hair.

"Hi," I said, confused as to why he would be talking to me outside of Transfiguration lessons.

"I was just wondering, you know the Halloween ball, do you -?" he began, but was interrupted by Tess whose conversation with Al had obviously ended, and he was walking down the corridor with some other Gryffindor quidditch player.

"Hey, Rose, do you reckon I could have a party tonight?" she asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"I thought Al had already planned one for you?"

"He has," she said, her face lighting up, "That's great! Uh...What did Malfoy want?" she asked. I turned back round and noticed that Malfoy had indeed vanished and I caught a glimpse of his shockingly platinum head disappearing round the corner of the corridor.

"I have no idea, you interrupted him before he could spit it out," I replied, thinking back to what Malfoy had been saying to me. Had he been about to ask me to the ball? "I think he was trying to ask me to the _ball_," I said, horrified.

Tess laughed loudly, causing a passing ghost to give her an angry glare. "You're not _serious!_"

"I dunno, he definitely asked me about the ball, but he never finished asking the question," I replied, as Tess burst out into fresh fits of laughter.

"This is the funniest birthday ever! First Max and now Malfoy!" she spluttered through peals of laughter.

I couldn't help but start laughing as well – Tess' laugh is infectious.


	11. Parties and broken noses

**ELEVEN**

"Please save me from Max," Tess said loudly in my ear so as to be heard of the horrendously loud music that was thumping through the room making the floor shake. She collapsed on the windowsill next to me and grabbed the butterbeer from my hand.

"Sure, you can have some of my butterbeer," I told her sarcastically. She grinned and took a large gulp of it before giving it back to me. "Why do you need saving from Max anyway?"

"Urgh…he's just so infuriating. He keeps following me around and trying to dance with me and stuff," she groaned, taking the butterbeer from my hand and drinking some more.

"Why don't you just have that one? I'll go get another one," I told her with a smile as she continued to drink from my bottle.

"Thanks, Rose! But come back quick, before Max finds me," she pleaded. I made my way round the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the common room and found the table that was groaning under the weight of about 50 bottles of butterbeer. I reached for one at the same time as somebody else and our fingers brushed against each other.

"Oh, sorry," I said, grabbing a different bottle and opening it with a flick of my wand.

"Oh…" I heard the person say, and instantly recognizing the voice, I looked up and found myself looking into the steely grey eyes of none other than Scorpius Malfoy. Though what, exactly, he was doing in the Gryffindor common room was not completely clear to me at that minute.

"This is the Gryffindor room," I told him, frowning. Behind him, I noticed Zabini loudly arriving on the dance floor and cheering loudly. Clearly somebody was already pretty drunk.

"Yeah, I know. We…er…Nott wanted to come see Miranda," he spluttered, pointing his wand at the top of his bottle and frowning as he tried to remember the spell to open it. I lifted my wand and opened it for him, using a non-verbal spell and he smiled at me thankfully. "Over there…look." He pointed to a corner of the room where Miranda and Nott were joined at the face on one of the sofas that we had moved to the side to make room for the party.

"Woah! They're really going for it," I said, my eyes drifting from the busy couple to Tess sitting on the windowsill about ten feet from them. It took me several seconds to realise that she wasn't alone and clearly Max had decided to ambush her again.

"Er…Rose…" Malfoy started, but I wasn't really listening and instead worried at the expression on Tess' face as Max inched closer to her and she shuffled nervously away from him and grimaced.

I better go save her, I thought like the chivalrous Gryffindor I am.

"Do you want to go…?" I heard Malfoy say and I had a funny feeling that I knew what he was going to say – or what he'd been trying to say for the past couple of days but never got the chance. Deciding that as my best friend I better save Tess, I gave him an apologetic look.

"I better go," I said, thrusting my bottle in Malfoy's hand and quickly meandering my way through the various dancers to where Tess was sitting uncomfortably.

As I arrived, Max moved an inch closer, and Tess' face displayed a look of pure disgust.

"Tess! There you are! Al wants to talk to you in the…um…kitchen," I lied quickly on the spot. Tess looked like she was about to laugh at the pathetic excuse I had just constructed, but instead adopted a relieved smile and after muttering a quick goodbye to Max hurried past me with a murmur of 'Thanks' as she passed me.

"She's beautiful isn't she," Max said in a day-dreamy manner looking at her retreating back.

"Um...do you want another butterbeer?" I said awkwardly, trying to steer him away from conversing with me about how beautiful he thinks my best friend is.

"No thanks, but I'll go get one for Tess, she might want one when she comes back," he announced, standing up and straightening his shirt. Before I could tell him 'Please don't, she really doesn't like you' he'd vanished into the noisy crowd of people.

I wasn't sure where Tess had gone to, but if I were her I certainly would stay there for a bit longer so as to escape Max-Stalker-Wood.

I can't believe I ever actually liked him.

Lost in the disbelief that I had ever liked anyone as completely annoying as Max I didn't notice Malfoy approaching me until he spoke.

"You forgot your drink, Weasley," Malfoy said, holding out the butterbeer that I'd shoved in his hands several minutes ago.

"Thanks," I said, taking it from him and drinking from it. "Sorry about running off, Tess needed saving from Wood. What were you going to say?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then turned to look at the dance floor. "Zabini?" he said in horror. I coughed on my butterbeer and then followed his line of sight to find Zabini standing in front of us clutching his nose with a trickle of blood running down his chin.

"I told that guy from Ravenclaw that he had a huge nose," he said, by way of explanation.

"Which guy from Ravenclaw?" Malfoy asked, scanning the crowd of people.

"That big one…the keeper of the Quidditch team. You know…the one with the big nose," he told us, and we all began laughing.

"Oi, you! Zabini!"

We turned towards the owner of the voice – a tall, burly seventh year with extremely broad shoulders and, as Zabini said, an extremely large nose. Zabini gave him a nervous smile.

"Uh…sorry mate. Can't we just let this drop…it's a party," he stammered, as the Ravenclaw eyed him furiously. Clearly breaking his nose wasn't enough for this guy. "No?" he suggested, judging from the look on the guy's face that he was not going to let it drop.

I have no idea how there were so many people from other houses infiltrating the party, when Tess didn't, as far as I knew, know any of them.

Malfoy stepped in between the two of them, and gave Zabini a disapproving glare, before turning to the Ravenclaw guy, who was cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"There's no need for that," he told him authoritatively. He turned to me, "Take Zabini to the Hospital Wing to sort out his nose." I nodded, and quickly put down my drink before grabbing Zabini's arm and leading him out of the common room and away from the murderous Ravenclaw who was being calmed down by Malfoy when we left.

As we left, I wondered why Malfoy hadn't been made a prefect. He certainly has the qualities of one.

"How's the nose?" I asked Zabini as we wandered down the corridors heading in the vague direction of the hospital wing.

"Uh…it's stopped bleeding. I guess that's a good sign," he said with a grin, patting his nose gingerly. It certainly looked its normal shape so I don't think it had actually been broken, just injured a bit.

"Hold on," I said, stopping, and I held my wand to his nose. "_Tergeo_." Immediately the blood was siphoned of his face, leaving it clean. You would hardly have noticed that he'd been punched in the face, except for a bit of swelling around the bridge.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Got rid of the blood," I replied. "I don't think you'll need to go the hospital wing after all." He grinned at the news that he didn't need to go be shouted at by Madame Pomfrey who regularly launched into lectures about how fighting was despicable.

"To the Slytherin common room then," he announced, spinning around and heading off in the opposite direction. I turned round and caught up with him. "Have you actually ever seen the Slytherin common room?" he asked as we jumped over the trick stair in the staircase and headed towards the dungeons.

"Well, no, I never really had a need to," I replied and Zabini laughed. He stopped in front of an ominous looking dungeon door.

"Here we are," he muttered then said the password and entered the common room with me following behind him, vaguely interested in what the Slytherin common room looked like, before I headed back up to the party.

It was quite impressive. Definitely not as cosy as the Gryffindor one, but there were a few dark green and black sofas dotted around the room. The whole room was bathed in a faintly green light. All in all, it was pretty Slytherin-like, you know, very green, and it had this sort of appearance which meant you could imagine it being an evil hide-out.

"Like it?" Zabini asked, flinging himself onto one of the sofas and putting his hands casually behind his head.

"It's quite nice. I prefer Gryffindor though," I replied, still looking around and sitting down on the end of the sofa.

"I'd be worried if you didn't to be honest," he said with a laugh. He sat up and shuffled over so he was sitting right next to me.

"Uh, Zabini?" I asked politely.

"Yeah, Weasley."

"You're not going to try anything are you? Because you know I only like you as a friend, right?" I asked him nervously. To my relief he started laughing.

"Don't worry, I know when to back off, if you know what I mean," he said with a chuckle and a waggle of his eyebrows.

I frowned in confusion.

"Actually, I have no idea what you mean," I told him honestly. For some bizarre reason, this caused him to laugh even harder, so that he was doubled over and clutching his stomach.

"You really don't know?" I shook my head, still bemused as to what he was finding so funny. "Damn! And I thought he was so obvious!" he said, still laughing.

"Um…Zabini, could you explain? I'm kind of confused here," I said.

He gave me a pat on the back as though I was a lost five year old, "Ah, Weasley, Weasley, Weasley. I am talking here of Malfoy."

Malfoy? Huh?

Exactly where does he fit into all of this.

"Still don't get it," I said with a goofy smile, feeling like a bit of an idiot that it was apparently so obvious yet I still couldn't work it. I was supposed to be clever!

"Come on! You _seriously _don't know?" Once again, I shook my head in a puzzled fashion. "Ever since he started going to that DADA club in third year and became your friend he talked non-stop about you. It was fairly obvious he liked you."

"It was?" I asked, mainly talking to myself as I was surprised at how I could not have noticed it at the time.

"Yeah! So we convinced him to ask you out, but he came back one night saying that he screwed it up, and since then he started dating pretty much every single girl in the our year and the year below."

"So?"

"So…" he said in a tone that sounded like he was explaining apparition to a preschooler. "He used to like you...and practically exploded at me after I asked you out in Transfiguration. Remember when we met in the library?"

I took a moment for this information to enter my brain and be processed.

So…Malfoy liked me back in fourth year?

I suppose, thinking back at the way he had been acting, it had been fairly obvious. It is so typical of me not to pick up on something like this.

"So, he still likes me now?" I asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea what goes on in that brain of his," he replied. "He hasn't gone out with anyone since a couple of weeks back when he had points taking off for sneaking into a cupboard with a Ravenclaw girl."

I snorted and earned an amused look from Zabini. I remembered that I had been the one to take the points off of him and that blonde girl when I caught them in the cupboard.

"What?" Zabini asked, referring to my snort.

"I was the one that caught them and took the points off," I said with a giggle, and Zabini began to laugh as well. "Anyway, I better head back to the party."

Zabini nodded, stood up and gave me a friendly hug after assuring me that he didn't like me in that way another time (I had to make sure, didn't I?).

"Where have you been?" a loud voice demanded. I pulled away from the hug and saw Malfoy standing there with his arms folded, glaring at Zabini.

"Weasley sorted out my nose," Zabini said happily, giving me the thumbs up.

"Hold on…what's going on?" he hissed angrily looking between the two of us.

"Zabini offered to show me the Slytherin common room," I told him. "I better go back to the party." I added once I noticed the angry look that Malfoy was giving Zabini.

"He _offered to show you the common room_," he said loudly, sneering.

"Well, yeah, then we were talking for – " I began.

"You were _talking_," he drawled angrily.

"Well, yeah, hold on…you don't think that we were - "Zabini started to say, but was cut off by Malfoy's fist landing square in the middle of his face causing his nose to bleed for the second time that evening and throwing him off balance. "Shit, Malfoy! We weren't even doing anything!" he shouted at Malfoy who had started to walk out the common room after giving me a malicious sneer.

He really is a charming fellow.

Not.

"Just…Shut up Zabini," he said quietly, but his voice was menacing all the same.

"What? Malfoy, you don't think that me and Zabini…" I said as Malfoy left the room, the conclusion that Malfoy had drawn finally dawning on me.

My mouth dropped open. He was _unbelievable!_

I looked in horror at Zabini who was clutching his nose, with a grimace on his face.

"I think my nose really is broken this time," he groaned.

**Love it or hate it?? Let me know =]**

**G**


	12. I don't get it

**Sorry about the late update everyone, I had a bit of writer's block when writing this chapter. :S**

**Thank you to all reviewers, they make my day ******

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**TWELVE  
**

To Al's horror, Zabini joined us on the Gryffindor table the next morning for several minutes before we headed off to our next lessons.

"What do _you _want, Zabini?" Al asked nastily. Zabini looked a little taken-aback, but then gave him a charming smile as if Al's rather insulting greeting didn't affect him in the slightest.

"Don't worry, Potter, I won't be hexing your eyebrows off…_today_," Zabini added as an afterthought, but his tone lacking any real venom. He surveyed us with a slightly nervous smile as though the Slytherin cunning did not extend to approaching a bunch of Gryffindors.

"Oi, Al. He's not that bad," I said, kicking Al under the table. He shut up, but resorted to giving Zabini nasty looks throughout the duration of our conversation which, to my pleasure, Zabini did not retaliate to.

"Weasley, I have some advice for you this fine morning," he announced in an undertone so as not to bring attention to the fact that a _Slytherin _was at the Gryffindor table – after all some of the more patriotic Gryffindors would get extremely suspicious.

"What is it?" I asked, equally quietly.

"Avoid Malfoy at all costs. He's on his man-period," he said, grabbing a glass of orange juice and downing it in one. I rolled my eyes at his actions, at the same time as Tess let out a disapproving sniff, and then turned my attention to what he had said.

"Why?" I asked curiously, ignoring the questioning looks from Tess.

"He hasn't exactly recovered from yesterday," he said with a grimace and raising his eyebrows to remind me of what he was talking about.

"Ahh," I said in understanding.

"What happened yesterday?" Tess piped up, looking between us, her eyes glittering at the prospect of interesting Rose-related gossip.

"Later," I told her, and she mouthed 'Oh' and then tried to engage Al in a forced conversation, he however was too busy keeping his eye on the Slytherin sitting at the table as if expecting him to suddenly hex everyone in sight and creep away, cackling manically.

The Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry certainly hasn't been diluted down the years.

And besides, I certainly couldn't see Zabini being one for cackling manically. It's far too…unattractive for someone as concerned about their appearance as him.

"Look-" Zabini said, nodding with his head towards the Slytherin table where Malfoy was sitting, looking sullenly into his bowl of cereal, his head in his hands and his pale blonde hair concealing his face. The other inhabitants of the table were wisely ignoring him and occasionally giving him a furtive glance. Clearly some of them had been on the receiving end of his anger earlier on and were worried he would start releasing his pent up frustration on them again.

"What am I going to do? We have Transfiguration first," I muttered in panic, imagining scenes of us in Transfiguration with him standing over my lifeless body.

A little far-fetched, I will admit.

Zabini shrugged his shoulders and got up.

"Try not to provoke him, I guess. Anyway, I better go, but, seriously, be warned. He's not in a good mood," he said and grabbed a muffin from our table, earning himself an angry glare from Al. He took a bite and then a grin surfaced on his tanned face, "Blueberry! Cheers, Potter!"

Al scowled at him, no doubt muttering an elaborate collection of swearwords under his breath, and Zabini grinned before casually loping off to the Slytherin table.

"I don't like him," Al muttered.

"You don't like anyone Slytherin," Tess reminded him indignantly. "And _you_," she said, placing a delicate stress on the last word and pointing a threatening finger at me, "better tell me what went on last night!"

"Maybe not now," I whispered, casting a look towards Al, and then crinkling my nose in disgust upon noticing the jam around his mouth.

"Oh…you don't want Al to hear," she said and then turned to Al, "Sorry Al, girl talk, she'll see you in Transfiguration. And wipe your mouth please. It's digusting."

"I hate you," Al muttered under his breath as he got up and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"No you don't," Tess said cheerfully, and he threw her one last frown and he was gone. "Spill."

"It's not that interesting," I told her, and she sighed, clearly having great difficulty suppressing the urge to roll her eyes.

"So!! Just tell me! Wait, you didn't _kiss_ him did you?" she asked, her eyes wider than saucers, as if the notion of kissing was horrifying.

"Kiss who?" I asked bewildered.

"_Zabini_! Merlin, sometimes I wonder if you have a brain," she said with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

"I do have a brain," I replied, defending myself. She tutted loudly and casually waved her hand as if she was brushing the matter aside.

"Back to more pressing issues. Did. You. Kiss. Zabini?" she said emphasizing each word as if explaining Quidditch to an infant.

"Hell no!" I said horrified, and quite loudly. Several people in the vicinity looked at me in confusion. "Though I think Malfoy thought that's what happened." I added, reflectively.

"I'm dying of suspense! Just tell me," she said exasperated.

"We were talking in the Slytherin common room, Malfoy walked in, misinterpreted the situation and broke Zabini's nose," I said and she gasped, bringing a perfectly manicured hand to her mouth.

Honestly. She has such a feeling for drama.

"Malfoy broke Zabini's nose?!" she repeated in shock. "But they're best mates!"

"Malfoy's apparently still mad, as I'm sure you gathered from Zabini's little visit," I whispered back with a solemn nod. "I wonder why he did it," I added, frowning at her in confusion.

"Merlin, you are so unobservant," Tess declared, standing up and grabbing her bag. I picked up my bag and walked with her out of the hall.

Why is everything obvious to everyone else but me?

"Huh?" I said and Tess rolled her eyes.

"Are you seriously that dense? Well, I'm not telling you, you have to work it out yourself," she told me with a grin and then with a quick hug she bounded off to her divination lesson and left me to walk to Transfiguration alone, as Al had already gone.

I walked slowly, turning everything over in my mind. The only solution that came to me, after much deliberating, was that Malfoy was for some reason jealous, however I immediately disregarded this theory when I saw the murderous look that Malfoy gave me when I entered the classroom.

Somehow, I reckoned, this was not going to be a good lesson.

"Oh, it's beaver features," he said with a sneer as I sat down.

It's funny how we can go from one day being perfectly civil to the next him being completely insulting.

Well, not funny as in haha. Funny as in … weird.

"What's wrong with you?" I demanded after he continued to sneer at me.

"Nothing's wrong with me, I'm not the one who goes round snogging random people," he said with a nasty smirk surfacing on his face.

Excuse me! Who is the one I caught in a cupboard with a random girl?

Who is the one who has the reputation as being Hogwart's chief heart-breaker?

What a hypocrite.

"I think you'll find that you _do_ go around snogging random people," I told him confidently.

His smirk faltered for a second.

Ha!

"But I don't do it in front of other people," he finally retorted, looking slightly less confident.

"I don't do it at all," I replied, trying to replicate his nasty smirk.

"Don't lie," he hissed back.

"Actually, that's more your thing."

"You're insufferable," he concluded, giving me a look of pure loathing. "I think I can safely say that I hate you." His grey eyes flashed angrily at me, and I glared back at him, anger etched over my freckled face.

No, really, he's a nice guy.

Not.

"I think I can safely say the feeling's mutual," I said pulling my gaze away from his and turning my attention to the lesson which was just beginning.

He hated me.

And for what reason? Because he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion and didn't even listen to anyone when they tried to tell him what really happened. Surely it must be fairly obvious that I did _not_ like Zabini as anything more than a friend.

I continued taking notes for the lesson with a renewed frustration and stabbing my parchment with my quill with more venom than was really necessary.

Merlin, boys were annoying.

***

"Merlin, boys are annoying."

Those were the words that an extremely flustered looking Tess greeted me with upon arriving in the library where I was studying that evening.

"I regret to say that I share your sentiment," I told her, without even looking up from my Potions textbook. After all, those had been the exact words that had been going through my head for the majority of my Transfiguration lesson that morning.

"Rose, you've always thought that boys are annoying," she replied with a frustrated sigh. "Only now do I think that your accusations had some truth in them."  
I glanced up and suppressed a giggle at the look of utter disgust on Tess's face. She honestly looked as though she had been presented with one of Hagrid's rock cakes and been forced, whilst being threatened with a bat bogey hex, to eat it.

"Who - ?" I began, but was immediately interrupted by a magnificent rant.

"Isn't it obvious? That pathetic excuse for a Gryffindor, Wood. How can anyone _get_ even more annoying than him? I mean, do I have a sign on my head that says '_Please annoy me by asking me to that stupid dance'_? Do I?" She cast my a questioning look, daring me to say 'Of course you do! It's plastered quite clearly over your forehead', and then continued, "Exactly, I don't. And yet, he finds it necessary to ask me _every single time_ he sees me," Here she adopted a crude imitation of his deep manly tone, "'Hey Tess, fancy going to the ball with me?' and 'Lookin' good, sex kitten, wanna go to the ball with me?'"

I snorted loudly earning myself an irritated glare.

"I think he likes you," I said, mock seriously.

"Thanks for the perceptive insight there Sherlock," she replied sarcastically, in a much less animated tone than her speech before that. "The thought honestly hadn't crossed my mind."

"Maybe you should just say yes," I considered, chewing the end of my quill absent-mindedly.

"Maybe you've lost your marbles," she announced coolly.

"Maybe…" I replied, deep in thought. From the (albeit, limited) knowledge I had of dating, mainly picked up from my younger cousin Lily, who, although only in fourth year, had had her fair share of boyfriends, I guessed that he was only going after her because of the challenge. Which means if she gave in, and began annoying _him_…he would give up in return.

"Did you _hear_ what I just said?" Tess demanded, looking at me as if she was definitely sure I had lost my marbles now.

"I was just thinking, maybe you should say yes," I repeated, and she flashed me a wide-eyed grimace of horror. "Guys only like the chase, right?"

"Right…" she repeated, apparently completely unaware of the direction this conversation was taking.

"So…if you go out with him then annoy him in return-"

"The tables will turn! He'll be the one getting completely annoyed, and –"

"You'll be well shot of him!"

We high-fived each other in delight.

"You know," Tess said, in a reflective voice, "I never thought you'd be the one to come up with a solution to the Max problem."

Nor did I, to be honest.

"I'm full of surprises," I replied with a wide grin, "And I pick up a lot of stuff hanging round with Lily. And Al…"I added as an after-thought.

"Al? What do you pick up hanging round _him?" _she asked impatiently, eyeing my Potions textbook with a mingled look of disgust and confusion.

"Well, he's had a few girlfriends, hasn't he?" I reminded her, barely concealing the grin that came on my face when she tried (and failed) to look unaffected by the idea.

"Yeah…I guess so…" she said, her eyes frantically searching the library for some source of subject change, "Have you _seen_ Bridget Goyle's hair today? What look do you reckon she was aiming for? Disgruntled troll?"

I let out an obviously fake cough.

"What?" she said, her usually creamy complexion flushing a crimson colour to rival that of my father's ears when Hugo found a picture of him when he was 12. I smirked at her, reveling in her obvious discomfort. "What are you smirking at? I _know_ Al's had girlfriends. They tend to dangle off his arm whenever he has them, and never stray more than 3 feet away from him…" she said, her voice getting progressively more frustrated. "…How does he stand their constant _whining_?"  
I covered my mouth to prevent myself from bursting into fits of hysterical laughter at her outburst.

"What now?" she demanded, in an infuriated tone, her fists clenched involuntarily.

"And they say _I'm _the dense one…" I replied, returning to my work, smirking into my parchment.

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	13. Tess' Potter Nightmare

**THIRTEEN**

"I thought I'd find you here," said Tess, eyeing the library with a mingled look of disgust and sleepiness. "Put your stupid book away, we're going shopping."

I groaned audibly, "It's not a stupid book, and there is no way in hell I'm going shopping." I engaged my attention in my book again and tried to ignore the tutting and foot-tapping coming from Tess' direction. To no avail.

"Fine. I'll go, only because I can't read through your incessant foot tapping," I grumbled. "Why are we going anyway? It's a Saturday, we should be reading and studying…and sleeping." I clambered to a standing position and put the book back into it's place on the library shelf.

"You need a dress, obviously!" she said, dragging me out of the library as I hurriedly wound my scarf around my neck. Trust me, this is a near impossible feat when you are being pulled along a corridor at a shocking speed.

"Why on earth do I need a dress?" I asked her. "I'm not going to the Halloween ball remember."

"I know we're not going to the Halloween ball, even though Wood thinks I am," Tess smirked slightly at the thought.

"You're evil," I interjected with a grin.

"Oi, you came up with the idea," said Tess defensively. "Anyway, we are, however, going to an after-party of the biggest quidditch match of the season!" She grinned, as if this was the best thing that could ever have happened to her. It has been all she has been talking about for the past several weeks.

God bless her merry soul.

"It's hardly the biggest. The Chudley Cannons are at the bottom of the league, aren't they?" I reminded her.

Tess looked a little taken-aback, "I didn't know you kept up to date with the Quidditch league!"

"I know a lot more than you give me credit for," I said slyly, with a smile.

"So the Chudley Cannons are near the bottom of the league-"

"I heard they _were_ the bottom of the league," I smirked.

"Fine. So the Chudley Cannons are the worst team in the country. Big deal! This game will be amazing!" she gave a little squeal of delight.

"You're only saying that because you're going with Al," I remarked, marveling at my own cunning to get her to admit she liked my cousin. Which although is rather disgusting from my point of view, since I don't do _incest_, I can understand why she might think that way. He is quite good looking, what with being blessed with fabulous Potter-messy-hair-genes and his crooked smile.

"Yeah," she adopted a dreamy soppy look, "if I wear the dress he got me do you think he'll…" her eyes widened as she realized what she admitted, and she clapped her hand to her mouth. I burst out laughing.

Honestly, with my cunning I should have been put in Slytherin.

"I didn't just say that. I did _not_ just say that," she said. "Please tell me I didn't just say that." I continued to laugh at her horrified expression.

"I'm afraid you actually _did _just say that," I replied with a grin stretched widely across my face.

"Stop grinning you sneaky little loon," she said, her face a shocking shade of red.

"Don't worry. I won't tell our resident Potter that you fancy the pants off him," I said, patting her shoulder and trying to keep a straight face.

"You-" Tess began, her face still glowing like a huge tomato.

"Resident Potter? I hope you don't mean me," came a voice from in front of us. Immediately, Tess and I spun around and came face to face not with Al, as we originally suspected, but his elder brother James whose uncanny knack of causing inordinate amounts of trouble could only have been inherited from his namesake.

"There is more than one Potter in this castle," Tess responded dryly, the colour from her cheeks fading a little.

"Oh!" said James, his face breaking into what I know full well to be his mischievous grin – the grin which precedes any of his faultless pranks of mischief making. "You like lickle Al-kins!" he announced so loudly that Professor Longbottom who was registering third years visiting the village peered over at us. I mouthed 'Sorry' over at him but he just shook his head in mild disapproval and before he put his head down I could have sworn I saw him wink.

"You better not mention it to him James Sirius Potter," I told him forcefully as Tess' cheeks turned red again.

"Ooo…resorting to use of the full name! I'm scared now. Quivering in my proverbial boots," said James sarcastically.

"Promise you won't tell," Tess said frantically, as a bunch of sixth years emerged from the castle and she glanced at them hurriedly as if expecting Al to bound down that instant.

"Of course I won't," said James, looking as though Christmas had come earlier. "I won't mention it all."

There was something in his tone which made me expressively doubt that he was being entirely truthful in his promise. But, being under the tight-schedule that we were to search for a dress, I did not have the opportunity to suggest we made an unbreakable vow or something similar. Instead, as Tess once again dragged me by the arm towards the village, I turned around and shouted to James' retreating back, "If you tell I'll write to Grandma Molly!"

James spun around on hearing this suggestion. "You wouldn't _dare_!"

Let me straighten one thing out. We all love our dear grandma Molly but since she practically strangled Hugo when he brought a garden gnome into the house claiming it was his new 'friend' and then it sprinted round the house on its fat legs being chased by Crookshanks and, for some reason, my dad's owl, Pig. To say the least, considerable damage was done to various items in the house, and since then my cousin's and I have been extremely careful about breaking any rules whilst in the vicinity of Grandma Molly.

That is unless we want to have her chasing us from the Burrow and into the chicken coop with a soapy frying pan.

"Oh, I would," I said, smirking at him, and I caught a last glimpse of his horror-stricken face before I was dragged round the corner and Tess and I approached the village.

"You know," said Tess, thoughtfully observing my satisfied smirk. "It's at times like this when I wonder why you weren't put in Slytherin."

"And it's at times like _that_," I replied, nodding my head to Al who was covered, for some reason, from head to toe in feathers, "when I wonder why you fell for my cousin."

As if on cue, Tess' face turned a startling shade of magenta and she eyed Al apprehensively. "Don't say anything," she whispered in my ear as Al approached us looking miserable beyond words.

"Do I look stupid?" I replied, equally quietly. She raised her eyebrows, put a hand to her chin, and looked me up and down, as if contemplating whether I looked like an idiot. "Oh shut up," I added with a grin as Al stopped in front of us and grunted in greeting looking like an overgrown turkey.

"So…are you going to tell us what happened? Or do we have to guess?" I asked.

"James got me back from stealing his wand last summer," he replied, looking thoroughly grim at the idea.

"Oh cheer up," Tess said. "It could have been worse. He could have covered you in frog brains." Al snorted.  
"You really have mastered the art of charming the gentlemen," I said as Al shuffled away to the general amusement of the Hogwarts' populace.

"I'm better than you, any day," Tess said. "I mean, I have a date to the Halloween ball and I'm not even going!"

"Yeah, well, I don't want a date to something I'm not going to," I replied. Tess grinned.

"I'm sure you could bring a date to the Cannon's after-party. Al's dad has loads of tickets," she added.

"Nah. I'd rather laugh at your pathetic attempts with Al! Besides, who would want to go with _me_?"

"Rose, you are seriously the densest person I have ever come across. There must be at least a dozen boys would willing go to a dance or party with you," Tess replied exasperated.

As if to prove this point, Leo Zabini then came strolling over, his hair a little ruffled from the wind.

"Weasley! Thought you'd be in the library on a lovely day like this," said Zabini with a wide smile.

"I was dragged out by this little ray of sunshine," I said nodding towards Tess who was looking particularly smug.

"Morning Taylor. How're things with Potter? I-" he began but was interrupted by a fuming Tess.

"How does he know? How is it that _everyone _knows!" Zabini looked a little shocked by her outburst. "I'll see you in Zonko's in a minute, Rose." She departed with a last angry glare at Zabini.

"What was that about? I was only going to ask her about the Cannon's game before the Halloween ball. I heard she and Potter had nabbed tickets," Zabini said anxiously. "Did I say something wrong?"

I couldn't help but laugh slightly, as I assured Zabini that he had in fact not said anything wrong in the slightest and explained that Tess was feeling a bit frustrated today.

"Ok, well, I actually came over to ask you something," Zabini said, putting his hands in the pockets of his coat. "You see…Bridget Goyle is apparently trying to slip me a love potion to make me go to the ball with her, but obviously, I don't particularly want to spend an evening with her…so I was wondering if, you know…only if you want to, just as friends…doing a friend a favour…"

"You want me to go to the ball with you?" I deduced from his waffling.

"Well, yeah," he said, "Look. I just know you don't like me that way so…I mean you don't like me that way do you?"

"No, not really. Sorry, to wound your ego," I added with a smile.

"Too late, you wounded it when you first rejected me," Zabini replied with a grin. "Anyway, what do you say? Are you already going with someone?"

"Well, I'm not actually going. I'm going to the Cannon's after-party," I replied.

"Serious! Well, have a good time! Looks like I'll be stuck with Goyle," he shivered involuntarily. "Unless I went alone…"

"Alone sounds good," I said slowly, as Bridget Goyle walked past holding a large pastry, which, for the record, I'm not she really needed to eat. If you get my drift.

"Actually, alone sounds brilliant," he said frantically. "I'm off then…" Bridget had just spotted him. "Laters, Weasley."

"Bye!" I said and hurried off to Zonko's where I found Tess muttering under her breath. After quickly explaining that Zabini didn't actually know anything at all, and she had misinterpreted him, I was dragged off to various dress shops and three hours (and a lot of moaning) later I had found the perfect dress.

"Can we go get a Butterbeer _now?_" I asked, severely tired after having pranced around all the dress shops in Hogsmeade.

"Fine. But don't you dare get anything on your dress," Tess warned me.

"Tess, it's in a plastic bag. Unless I opened it and chucked my Butterbeer in there it's unlikely to get dirty," I told her, and we stumbled into The Three Broomsticks and grabbed a table.

"I'll go get drinks," Tess said, unwinding her scarf and chucking it on the table, and she joined the queue that had formed to order. It seemed that pretty much all of Hogwarts above third year was packed in here.

I sat down on a chair and hung my dress in its black plastic case over the chair next to me.

"What's that?" I looked up and found Malfoy sitting opposite me, leaning casually back in his chair.

"Oh, you're talking to me now, are you? I thought you hated me?" I asked irritably.

"I don't hate you…as such," he added, upon seeing the disbelieving look on my face. He smirked. "It was just a misunderstanding. So, are you going to tell me what you've got next to you?"

"A dress," I said, not caring that I sounded blunt.

"Care to elaborate?" said Malfoy, raising one perfectly defined eyebrow.

My god, his mood swings were infuriating! Last time he told me that he hated me, and yet now he was talking to me as if that had never even happened.

I frowned at him, as he placed his hands carefully behind his head. "I'm going to a party after the Cannon's game."

"But that's the day of the Halloween ball, is it not?" he asked, his smirk faltering slightly.

"Your point being?"

"Oh…never mind." Tess arrived at the table and gave Malfoy a repulsed look.

"Sod off, Malfoy. You're not exactly welcome here," she said, placing the Butterbeers on the table.

Malfoy just gave her withering look and turned his attention back to me. "Well, I'll see you in Transfiguration on Monday then, _Rose_."

He called me Rose?

What. The. Hell.

I was about to open my mouth to respond, but Malfoy beat me to it.

"Good luck with Potter, Taylor," he added to Tess, who, judging by the look on her face, was about to explode.

"What do you mean, _Scorpius_?" I demanded.

"Only that it's damn obvious she likes him," he said with a shrug and departed us leaving my mind reeling as to why he called _me_ Rose (even though that's my name he _never _called me that…not even when we were friends back in third year at DADA club).

"My life is over," Tess gulped.

"Not before his," I said, grabbing my scarf and standing up. "Take my dress to the castle, Tess."  
Slightly amused by my sudden confident exterior, Tess choked on her Butterbeer, "What are you on about, Rose?"

"I'm gonna kill him before he opens his arrogant gob about you and Al," I told her, and I dashed over to the door, pulled it open and sprinted after the blonde idiot.

***

_**Love it? Hate it? Review it?  
Sorry for the late update…let me know what you think =]**_

_**-G**_** ;)**


	14. Hideously Arrogant

**FOURTEEN**

"Oi! Malfoy!" I shouted at the back of the pale blonde head I could see about twenty feet in front of me. He turned casually around, raising a pale eyebrow at my disheveled form as I came to a skidding stop at his feet.

"You called?" he drawled, a smirk surfacing on his otherwise attractive features. I choked on my words for a second as he stood in front of me, his hair being buffeted by the wind and his grey eyes observing me humorously.

He wasn't bad looking.

In fact, I was having a slight trouble trying to comprehend how I'd not found him attractive before.

Merlin, what a time to realise such a thing – when you're about to threaten him into not telling the school about your best friend's crush!

"I…um…" I blinked quickly, trying to banish those thoughts from my head.

I must not think about how attractive he is.

I must not think about how attractive he is.

"What was that about?" I demanded, finally focusing my mind on the job in hand. Which was _not_ gazing at his impeccable cheekbones, I reminded myself.

"What was what about?" he replied, feigning confusion when both of us knew that he knew what I was on about.

"Well, firstly, you called me Rose…You have _never_ called me Rose. And secondly…how on earth do you know that there is anything going on between Tess and Al?" I asked, the power of speech returning to me in full. Thank god.

"How could I _not _know about Taylor and Potter?" he said incredulously. "They've been eyeing each other up since second year."

"People don't 'eye each other up'" I raised my fingers in quotation marks, "when they're that young. Except for you, perhaps," I added thoughtfully, "You've clearly been eyeing girls since you were out of nappies."

"People can eye each other up when they're in second year," he replied pompously. "Maybe not in the same way that sixth years eye each other up…but-"

"Okay, whatever," I said, raising a hand to shut him up. "What I'm trying to say is you better not tell anyone…If Al finds out…"

"Are you seriously under the impression that Potter is unaware of this?" Malfoy said sarcastically, giving me a look that made me feel like a pre-schooler being told off.

I opened my mouth to speak, but then shut it again.

"Trust me…he knows. I know these things," he added, upon noticing the faint widening of my eyes and the dropping of my jaw. "Anyway, I have an essay to write…so I'll be off."

Malfoy raised a hand in farewell and began to walk away but I immediately caught up and fell into step beside him.

"Oho! You're not running away from me _that _easily!" I said, and he sighed upon noticing me walking next to him.

"Honestly, Weasley, don't you ever wonder that you swallowed essence of insanity when you were younger? It would explain a lot…like the stalking…" he drawled, not even bothering to look my way. Not that I really minded that much. The profile of his face was, to say the least, almost as good as the front.

Maybe I did swallow essence of insanity. I wouldn't put it past my father, I can imagine him accidentally feeding it to me instead of cough syrup or something.

And it_ would_ explain a lot…like why I find Malfoy so irksomely attractive right now, for example.

"I'm not _stalking _you. The whole universe doesn't revolve around _you_, you know," I told him, and he smirked at me quickly before returning to gazing resolutely in front of him. "If you just promise not to tell _anyone_ about what is apparently so obvious to you, then I'll go away and leave you to write your essay in peace."

Personally, I thought this an extremely good offer. However, I had no way of keeping Malfoy from backing in on his word seeing as I had no correspondence with any of his relations due to them being family enemies and all.

That was my usual plan of attack you see – inform the parents. I rarely followed through with these threats but they worked their magic nonetheless…particularly on family members.

"And if I don't promise?" he said, his lips twitching up into a slight smile, though he still didn't turn his head towards me.

His lips were actually quite…

Focus, Rose, focus!

"Then I'll repeatedly wallop you over the head with my Potions textbook whilst you're trying to write your essay," I said confidently. I know it was a pretty pathetic threat, but at the time I had my mind drifting off to other things. Such as wondering how soft Malfoy's hair is at the back. It looks all spiky, you see, but I can imagine it being very soft. I felt an inexplicable urge to run my hands through his hair.

And then inwardly cursed myself for allowing that thought to cross my mind.

I shook my head and frowned slightly, wondering what was causing all these hallucinations. Though, I distinctly wished that they weren't hallucinations at the same time.

At this point, Malfoy stopped and faced me. He was smirking quite evilly and I wondered what malicious thought was crossing his pure-blood mania mind.

"I know, if you help me with the essay, I promise I won't breathe a word," he said.

"You are _such _a Slytherin," I told him, shaking my head at his sneakiness. I doubt that he really needed my help though, to be honest. It's not like he's as brain dead as some of his Slytherin pals. Like Nott, for example, who, on a daily basis, I find myself wondering how he manages to walk and talk at the same time. Let alone fit in snogging Miranda into that hectic schedule.

Yes, they are officially together now, by the way, since their 'romantic' display at Tess' party.

"Hence the green scarf," he said, indicating the green and silver scarf wound loosely round his neck.

"Why do you need my help anyway?" I demanded, before agreeing to this no doubt evil plot. I mean, he is a Slytherin, and since when has a Slytherin come up with an innocent suggestion that doesn't have an ulterior motive?

Exactly…never.

Though perhaps I'm being slightly prejudiced…but can you blame me? I grew up with _Albus _for goodness sakes, a living example of family feuds carrying onto the next generation.

"As hard as it is to believe, I'm not as talented as I'd like to be in Defence Against the Dark Arts." I snorted loudly, and he gave me a decidedly undeserved withering look. "I know. It is quite impossible to comprehend that someone as undeniably perfect as I, could have flaws."  
I rolled my eyes, even though that there was something in his tone that suggested he wasn't being completely serious.

"Anyway, the deal stands at this – you help me with my Defence essay and I keep my mouth zipped," he finished, holding out his hand for me to shake.

I frowned, a little apprehensive at making a deal with Malfoy, of all people. However, I resolved that I would be doing this to Tess' sake, and I didn't want to let her down, so I clasped his hand reluctantly.

His hand was very warm, and my heart fluttered as he smiled at me whilst shaking my hand in a fairly informal manner for what could be considered as a business proposal.

"Excellent," he said with a grin that made my heart clench. Once again, to my great dismay, I found myself dwelling on how attractive Malfoy is. In fact, I was so absorbed in trying to decipher the exact colour of his eyes (they certainly look grey, but from the – admittedly slightly low – angle I was regarding them from, they look more blue. And much more pleasant…) that I didn't notice he was even talking until I saw his mouth moving. "…That sound good to you?"

"Uh…what?"

"Do you ever listen, Weasley? Apart from when it concerns learning facts that will never even be useful, like in Herbology," he replied sarcastically. "I said, I'll see you at eight o clock in the library tonight. By the books on magical creatures. Ok?"

"Oh…yeah…" I replied, bringing myself back to reality. "Well, I'll leave you to go admire your reflection in a mirror then. Or maybe the lake…then you could fall in." I paused dramatically, and smirked at this solution.

"You can't go a day without insulting me, can you?" he drawled.

"As I recall, I didn't insult you yesterday."  
"As I recall, I didn't even _see_ you yesterday."

I replicated his smirk.  
"For once, the gods were on my side," I said, gazing up to the cloudy sky as if I were expressing gratitude to heavenly bodies.

"I'll…uh…see you later, I suppose," Malfoy remarked, putting his hands in his jean's pockets.

"Oh, yeah. Eight by the magical creatures section…got it," I replied, hoping to god that Tess was thankful to me for sacrificing my evening as I retraced my steps to the Three Broomsticks. I almost bumped into Tess who was coming out as I approached, holding my dress in its protective packet carefully.

"Well?" she demanded.

"I got him to swear not to tell anyone, but for a price," I groaned. "I have to help him study tonight. You better be thankful, Tess."

"Thank you, Rose," she said sweetly, grinning at me. "You are a brilliant friend. Just for that, I will carry your dress back to the castle."

"Gee…what a suffering that is!" I muttered sarcastically.

"Well, tutoring with Malfoy isn't so bad," she replied, watching carefully for how I would react. When I didn't retort angrily she carried on. "It's not like he's hideously ugly or anything…"  
"He is, however, hideously arrogant," I retorted.

"And you're hideously stubborn," she replied, grinning.

"Well….you're hideously irritating," I said gritting my teeth and trying to not to dwell on Malfoy at all. Memories of how I, dare I say it, found him remotely attractive were starting to filter through. I must be mental.  
Why else would I find him less than repulsive?

"You're hideously blind," she snapped back.

"Can we stop with the hideously's?"

"Only if you admit that you _will_ inevitably end up marrying him one day," she said, as I snorted loudly. So we were back on the hypothetical marriage theories again.

"I would never marry _him_," I replied, trying not to think about his hair.

And eyes.

And general attractiveness.

I groaned inwardly. There is a bed in Mungo's with my name on it, I'm sure of it. There is no other explanation for this madness.

"I'll hold you on that one, Mrs Malfoy," she muttered back, grinning, and squealed and ducked when I aimed a prod at her arm. She chuckled all the way back to the castle.

I couldn't see what was that funny. The idea of me being a future Malfoy is hideous…for want of a better word.

***

When I went up to my dormitory to hang my dress up in the wardrobe Tess and I shared, I saw Miranda sitting cross-legged on her bed reading a book.

This, alone, was quite disconcerting due to the fact that I had always assumed that she was allergic to reading owing to her tendency to go out of her way to avoid books at all costs.

"What are you reading?" I asked her, politely. Ever since the detention from hell (as I have renamed it), Miranda and I have been on perfectly civil terms. A fact which Tess finds deeply disturbing.

She looked up from her book, "Oh, it's one of yours. I should have asked…but it looked interesting."

"That's ok, you can read it, I don't mind," I said with a smile.

"Thanks," she replied. I hung the dress in the cupboard then perched on the end of my bed which was opposite hers.

"How're things with loverboy Nott?" I inquired, smiling at the slight pinkish tinge that appeared on his cheeks.

"Really good, actually," she looked extremely dreamy. "He's taking me to some party thing he got tickets to."

"The Cannon's after party?" I wondered, praying that the answer was no for Al's sake – he never could stand her.

"Yeah, that's the one. How do you know about it?" she asked.

"I'm going too. My uncle got a load of after-party passes."

She chuckled lightly, "Seems like the whole of sixth year is going. I mean, a whole bunch of the Slytherin guys are going with us – Nott and I, that is."  
"I'm glad you're happy with him," I said, genuinely meaning it. Although she had been a bit mean to me in past years, since she had started going out with Nott she seemed a lot a nicer. Despite being a Slytherin, it seemed that he was actually a good influence on her.

"Thanks, Rose," she said, with a grin.

"Well, I'll leave you to read. I have to go help…a friend…write an essay," I said, and departed the dormitory deep in contemplation.

Firstly, the fact that Miranda was reading. If that wasn't proof she had stopped being a megalomaniac then I don't know what was.

Secondly, that a bunch of sixth year Slytherin guys were going to the Cannon's after party. Knowing my luck, among them would most definitely be Malfoy.

"Weasley," a certain blonde someone piped up from a table in the library. Whilst my mind was deep in thought, my feet had carried me to the Magical Creatures section of the library.

My heart performed an unfamiliar leap, and I sat down trying not to catch Malfoy's eye. The last thing I needed when I was trying to help someone study was to start staring at them.

"Malfoy," I replied, contemptuously, and pulled the textbook towards me and began to explain the topic the essay was on – Non-verbal spells.

After about ten minutes of solid talking and explanations, I glanced over at Malfoy's parchment. It was empty.

"What is the point of me being here, if you're not going to work?" I demanded, and I made the fatal mistake of meeting his intense silvery-blue gaze.

"Uh…" He grinned. "I was writing the essay…uh…mentally."

"Because, mentally drawn conclusions are really easy to show to a teacher, aren't they?" I said sarcastically.

He didn't reply.

"Go on then…get writing," I told him forcefully, pulling the parchment closer to him and pointing at it menacingly. "I'm going to go check something in a book, I'll be back in five minutes, and you better have written something."

I got up and wandered among the shelves of books for slightly longer than five minutes, and was glad to see that when I returned Malfoy was actually writing. I whipped the parchment from him and looked at it hastily.

_**Defending against non-verbal spells**_

_Dear Professor, _

_I regret to inform you that unfortunately, although I recruited a tutor, I was unable to write this essay owing to the fact that I had no idea what she (that's Rose Weasley, by the way) was on about. _

_Yours, _

_Scorpius Malfoy _

"You're an idiot," I told him, after reading his 'essay'.

"But a cute one," he added, with a smirk, leaning back on his chair apparently proud of his horrendous attempt at an essay.

"Don't flatter yourself. I've seen cuter flobberworms," I retorted. "This isn't an essay." I waved the parchment in front of his eyes and raised eyebrows. "And if you didn't understand, why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I did understand, I just couldn't be bothered to write the essay," he replied with a grin.

"You're unbelievable," I shook my head in disapproval.

"I know. Unbelievably attractive," he smirked back. I groaned in frustration. "Don't worry about it. I tend to have that effect on people."

"What effect?"

"You know…loss of speech, buckling knees, release of pent-up sexual frustration…it's all part of my image," he drawled back, examining his nails, ignorant of the fact that there could be something flawed about his self-absorbed existence.

"Remind me why I tolerate you again?"

"Do you want me to announce to the school about Taylor's love?"

I groaned again, thoroughly irritated by him and his perfect bloody hair.

He just smirked.

***

**This is quite a quick update, I'm very proud of myself. I bit more Rose/Scorpius in this chapter and personally I think this is my favourite chapter so far =]**

**Let me know what you thought – Reviews are loved!**

**-G ;)**


	15. A befuddling lesson

**FIFTEEN**

"Five days! Five days!" Tess chanted, as she sat down next to me for Charms. She had constantly been chanting the number of days left until the Cannon's quidditch match for _quite _some time now.

Three days, to be precise.

"How long are you going to carry on chanting that, Tess?" I asked, exasperated.

"Five days!" she continued, and then turned to me to answer my question. "Uh…I can't help it, I'm just so excited!" She grinned so widely I thought her face might split.

"Shockingly," I muttered, retrieving my wand from my pocket, "I figured that much out for myself."

She grinned back at me and I couldn't help grinning back.

Professor Flitwick waddled into the classroom under a huge pile of books, being followed by Al who had an even larger pile of books. Tess sniggered and Al threw her a death glare.

"Just put them down, Potter," Flitwick wheezed. "Lovely…Take a point for Gryffindor."

"Thank you sir," Al said, rubbing his hands with a grimace. He came over and sat down on my other side, just as Flitwick began to read through the class list. "He cornered me and dumped loads of books on me. What was I supposed to do?"

Tess burst into silent giggles as I rolled my eyes at Al.

After five minutes, Flitwick established that the entire class was present and after describing the incantation and wrist movements had us all attempting to conjure birds to fly out the end of our wands.

"I've worked out a plan for Friday," Al said as loudly as he dared, with a cautious look to tell that the people sitting behind us couldn't hear what we were saying.

"Friday?" I asked.

"For the quidditch match. How could you forget with Tess singing how many days are left every available second," Al retorted, eyeing Tess who blushed.

Malfoy was right, Al _must_ know that Tess likes him. I mean, it was obvious even to me – the girl with no experience whatsoever in these matters.

"Oh."  
"Anyway," Al said, "The only way out is through the front door, then we can get to Hagrid's and floo through that fireplace."

"Why is Hagrid's fireplace connected to the floo network?" I asked. "I thought none of the school ones were."  
"They're not," Al replied. "My dad's getting that one linked up just for the night. That way we can get out."

"Genius," Tess said, in awe. Apparently, the excitement of the game was making her completely oblivious to blatant rule-breaking.

"Can't your dad just _ask_ for you to go out that evening?" I asked, confused as to why Al and Tess (and I – I was going to the party after all) would have to sneak around to get out.

"He did. But McGonagall's a strict cow, isn't she?" Al muttered in reply. "Can you stop asking questions so I can tell you the plan?" He raised his eyebrows at me and I grinned.

"Sure thing, Albie."  
"And don't call me Albie."  
"But, your sister did…" I smirked at him.

"Yeah…when she was _five_!" he rolled his eyes ostentatiously and then lowered his voice to a hushed whisper again. "So. The Plan."

"Just spit it out, Captain Slow," Tess grumbled.

"I would, if you'd just stop interrupting me," Al said, sounding quite annoyed. Tess and I exchanged an amused look and then fell silent. "Right. So, we all dress up in our ball stuff, and go to the ball. Then, after five minutes, Tess and I sneak out saying we need the loo, and go to Hagrid's. We floo to the stadium and watch the match, got it?"

"Got it!" Tess said, enthusiastically.

"What about me?" I said.

"I hadn't got there yet," Al replied. "The match should end around nine, so that's when _you_ sneak out of the ball, get to Hagrid's and floo to the party."

"Brilliant!" Tess said, with a grin that caused Al's cheeks to flush a deep red.

He ruffled his hair with his hand, "I know I am."

"And _soo_ modest," I muttered back. "Anyway, I see a flaw."

"You always see flaws. It's what you do…you're like the _flaw-seeker_…" Tess mumbled.

"Put a sock in it, you babbling twit," Al muttered, and Tess blushed. "So, what's the flaw?"

"What if the match goes on forever?" I asked. "Because, a match can't end until the snitch is caught…right?"

"The snitch will be caught, idiot," Al snapped back. "League matches only go on for a certain amount of time, and then they're forfeited."

"Whatever you say, Einstein," I smirked back.

Al grinned. "It's a good plan, isn't it?"

"Yes, Al, it's a brilliant plan," I said grinning and rolling my eyes. "Now create a flock of birds, Flitwick's on his way."  
I quickly sent several twittering birds flying out of the end of my wand just as Flitwick walked past, earning myself twenty points for Gryffindor.

Al coughed in a way that sounded suspiciously like 'dork'.

So I hit him over the head with my Charms book when Flitwick wasn't looking.

Ten minutes later Charms class had finished and Tess, Al and I were walking down to the dungeons for Potions, our last lesson of the day (thankfully). Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Max Wood appeared and threw an arm casually around Tess who grimaced at us before she was dragged off by him.

"Stupid prick," Al muttered under his breath, and I noticed his fists clenching and stifled a giggle.

"Pardon, Al. Didn't quite catch that…" I said, grinning sarcastically.

Al turned bright red. "I didn't say anything…"  
"Riiigghhhttt," I said, with raised eyebrows.

"ROSE!" I spun around after hearing my name being called and came face to face with Zabini skidding to a rushed halt right in front of me. "Hi Potter," he added with a charming grin.

Al sneered, "Hi…_Zabini._"

"Be nice," I whispered to Al, elbowing him subtly in his ribs. He glared at me. "Can I help you, Zabini?"

"I give you permission to call me Leo," Zabini – sorry, Leo – replied with a sparkling grin and a wink.

Al snorted loudly from next to me. "That can't be what you came to us for, Zabini."

"You're right, it's not," Zab – Leo said. "I just spoke to Ackerley and he says that he's pairing us up for the next couple of weeks. So, I though we could be partners."

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that she scored top marks in the year last year?" Al demanded, with a hint of smile – albeit a slightly mocking one.

"Perhaps…" Leo admitted. "And also because she's nice." Al raised his eyebrows and smirked. "What d'ya reckon Rose? Potions partners?"

"What about me, Rose?" Al piped up, his smirk gone.

"Don't you want to be Tess' partner?" I asked, with a knowing smile. Al went slightly red, muttered something completely unintelligible then hurried off to Potions with a quick 'I'll see you in a bit, then.'

"Well?"

"Sure, I'll be your partner," I grinned back. "But didn't you say Ackerley was choosing for us?"

"Yeah…but I'll persuade him," Leo assured me. "He's a pushover, really."

We walked into the Potions classroom and Leo immediately went off to the front desk to talk to Ackerley. I looked up to see if Leo had succeeded when he walked past, but he shook his head.

"He said no," he told me as he walked past. "Grumpy old git."  
"He might stick us together anyway," I suggested, admittedly slightly hopefully. The chances of Ackerley pairing me with Al and Tess were fairly slim because it was fairly obvious that we were best friends. I'd rather be with Leo rather than…say…Max Wood, who was all love-dovey for Tess at the moment.

"Good afternoon, class," Ackerley said, surveying us all darkly. "I'm pairing you up for the next couple of weeks, as you will be making Befuddlement draft, but I want you also to evaluate the uses and requirements of it."

Al, who was sitting next to me, groaned at the thought of more work to add to the increasing pile that he already had due to the fact that despite my constant insistence that he actually do it when it was set, he hadn't done any work for about three weeks.

"I expect five rolls of parchment between the two of you on the subject, and to stop the work only being done by one of the pair, I will be pairing you up with a similar level of skill based on your OWL results, which I have detailed analysis' for thanks to the Education Department of the ministry," Ackerley continued, as Al started to bang his head quietly on the table.

I elbowed him, "What are you doing? Sit _up_!"

"I'm going to be paired with someone stupid!" he groaned quietly, as Ackerley started waffling on about something – I don't know exactly what…I had tuned it out.

"You never know. You did get an E in the exam…you might get paired up with someone quite clever," I replied, Al looked a little consoled.

"Rose Weasley," I heard Ackerley's voice say, and I looked up.

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"You will be paired with Scorpius Malfoy. You both received equal marks on the OWL," he said, flashing me one of his rare smiles. "Congratulations, by the way."

"Um…Thank you sir," I muttered, slightly embarrassed by the snickers that were coming from around the class. I was picking up my books when Ackerley announced that Al would be paired with Miranda. Al nearly had a heart attack, and Tess was smirking from behind him, clearly happy with his misfortune. Her smirk didn't falter until she was paired with Wood.

"Why _him?"_ she muttered to me, as she gathered her stuff as well. "He's unbearable! I can't believe he got an E! You'd think someone that brain dead would only have wangled a T!"

"Too true, Tess," I muttered back. "At least your not stuck with an arrogant-arse genius."

"Yeah, but at least he's good looking," Tess muttered back, leaning under the table to pick up a quill she dropped.

I thought back to the Hogsmeade trip, when I first realised that Malfoy actually wasn't that bad looking. "Just because he's immensely attractive, doesn't make him any less unbearable."

Woops.

I did not just mean to admit that.

Tess banged her head on the table on her way up and then, with one hand clamped to her head, she looked at me wide-eyed. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

"What?" I said innocently, mentally reprimanding myself.

She grinned widely, "Oh. My. God. You think Malfoy is hot!"

Could she have said that any louder?

"Do you have to scream it?" I said, with a furtive glance around us. "And, no I don't."  
"You so do," she grinned back. "You just said so."

Damn.  
"Slip of the tongue," I mumbled back. She just walked away to Wood's table, with her mouth wide open and her eyebrows raised. Feeling like a bit of an idiot for accidentally admitting something like that – a bit like Tess did the other day - I carried my large pile of books to Malfoy's desk and put them down on the empty half.

"Looks like you didn't beat me at something for once," he smirked at me.

I scowled. "We came equal. I don't know why _you're_ so happy."

He continued to smirk at me.

"That sneezewort isn't going to powder itself you know?" I told him, nodding to the leaves on the table. Malfoy looked a little sheepish and pulled them towards him. I opened the text book on the page with the potion on it.

"So you like the Cannons, huh?" Malfoy piped up. I looked up and saw that he had powdered the sneezewort leaves and had begun to start the potion. He gave it a quick stir and I added scurvy-grass, like it said in the instructions.

"Where did you get that from?" I asked, taking the spoon from him and stirring it.

"Well, you're going to the after party right?" he asked.  
"Yeah," I replied. "But only because Tess and Al like the Cannons, and I don't want to go to the school ball without them."

"Why not?"

"Because I would get bored." I frowned slightly at him, "Why do you care anyway?"

"I was just wondering," he replied, and fell silent.

But the silence wasn't awkward.

In fact, it was oddly comfortable.

"Do you remember when we went on the trip to the ministry with DADA club?" Malfoy suddenly asked. I grinned at the memory.

"Yeah! And somehow, we managed to get ourselves locked in my uncle's records cupboard!" I said, laughing.

I remembered the trip vividly. Our DADA Professor of the time, Professor French, had taken us to the Ministry Auror department to talk to some of the aurors. Of course, I could do that anyway seeing as my Uncle Harry was head of the department and my dad also worked there, but I went all the same. When we arrived, there was an extremely old mind-numbingly boring guy who was giving us a tour of that floor of the ministry and Malfoy and I had decided to sneak off.

Big mistake.

We stumbled across my Uncle Harry's record cabinet, and made the idiotic error of closing the door behind us which then locked. It took us about ten minutes of trying to force the door open whilst giggling hysterically for us to remember that we did actually have wands, so with a quick 'Alohamora' we got out and walked straight into Uncle Harry.

He found the story extremely amusing as he tried to tell us off (he kept laughing). So, he promised not to tell our parents, and then showed us back to the rest of the group.

"That was so funny! Do you remember your uncle's face when we came out?" said Malfoy, laughing.

"_You locked yourself in a cupboard…when you had your wands on you?_" I said, imitating my uncle's voice. Malfoy let out a huge burst of laughter…just as Ackerley was walking past us.

"Having fun Malfoy?" he asked, looking at Malfoy disapprovingly. Leo was right, Ackerley really was a pain in the bum.

"Yes, sir. Weasley and I were just reminiscing," Malfoy said, still shaking with laughter.

"Well," Ackerley said, glaring at me. I felt the smile slide off my face…I could tell what was coming. "Perhaps you two would like to reminisce in detention."

"We'd love to. Thank you, sir," Malfoy replied, still grinning.

"Don't cheek my boy," Ackerley sneered. "Twenty points from Slytherin." With that he swooped off to go and wreak misery somewhere else. Presumably to Al and Miranda, whose shared cauldron was emitting sparks.

That definitely was not the glittering surface described in number 6 of the instructions.

"Sorry, about that," Malfoy muttered, as I stood up to stir the potion. He leant forward and added some scurvy-grass. Unfortunately, I was a bit to preoccupied by the fact that our shoulders were touching as we both peered into the cauldron that it didn't occur to me that the scurvy-grass had already been added.

Malfoy leant back, and my sense returned. I gave the potion a stir and sniffed it.

"I think you added too much scurvy-grass," I said, and sniffed it again.

Suddenly, my vision blurred and my legs started to wobble beneath me. My head felt like it was swimming.

"Uh…help," I muttered, my speech extremely slurred. Malfoy grabbed my arm, at least I think it was Malfoy, I could just see a fuzzy outline, and hear distorted voices.

"Professor! PROFESSOR! Our befuddlement draft was too strong!" Someone shouted, Malfoy, I supposed.

A thud of distorted footsteps, followed by a splashing sound. "Exactly how much scurvy-grass did you add?" an authoritative voice demanded.

"Maybe I added a bit too much?" a slightly sheepish voice from right next to me offered.

"Too right you did."

Then everything went completely black.

**Let me know what you thought. Reviews totally make my day =]**

**G **


	16. DetentionAgain

**This is such a late update, and I'm so so so so sorry! I've just gone back to school and the amount of work they've already shoved on us is **_**unbelievable**_**!**

**Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter! I hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think of it and any suggestions or criticism – they help make me a better writer =] Feel free to point out any spelling mistakes or whatever as well. I wrote this quite quickly :S**

**Love G xoxo **

**SIXTEEN  
**

I woke up lying somewhat uncomfortably on the Potions room floor, with Professor Ackerley standing about a foot away his arms folded and eyeing the situation with major displeasure. I was getting vibes that someone was about to get a detention because he had his 'detention face' on. You see, whenever Ackerley is about to tell someone off, or scream blue murder, or give them detentions for the rest of the school life his eyes kind of get all small and beady and he purses his lips so tightly together that they practically vanish.

I sat up unsteadily, feeling pretty dizzy and my gaze flicked over Tess on my left side, who was clutching my arm with a mingled look of anxiety and hilarity, and Malfoy on my right who looked relieved that I was awake – no thanks to him, I might add.

How could he have not seen that he had added too much scurvy-grass? He was supposed to be _good_ at Potions.

"Miss Weasley," Ackerley said, through his non-existant lips. "Are you quite alright?"

"Yeah…I think so…Just a little dizzy," I muttered, raising my left hand to my head as the room started swimming around me. At least we know that our befuddlement draft was particularly successful.

"Good, good," Ackerley replied, then his eyes got even beadier than they were before. "You will return here this evening, at 8'o'clock to redo the assignment."

"But Professor!" I called out, before I could stop myself. Ackerley raised an eyebrow, daring me to contradict him. Urgh, he was so infuriating! I mean, I had just _fainted_ in class after producing an almost perfect potion (the extra scurvy grass had ruined it) and there he was making me redo it when there were some people in the class who had done worse than us.

Like Al, whose potion had been emitting sparks and therefore he was sporting some horrendously singed eyebrows. Not a particularly good look for anyone to be honest.

But did Al have to redo his potion?

No.

"I mean, of course, Professor," I corrected myself. Ackerley looked extremely pleased with himself, the miserable bringer-of-doom that he is, and returned to the front of the classroom.

"Enough of this fuss!" he drawled. Everyone, who had been crowed round me on the floor, turned round and looked at Ackerley. "Get back to work!"

There were many grumbles and most people when walking past asked me if I was alright. To which I replied yes, then said I was going to murder Ackerley.

Not one person said that they wouldn't join me with that one.

"I'm sorry," Malfoy said, a little sheepishly as we gathered our things together. Everyone else was presenting Evil Ackerley with a phial of their potion, before we headed off to break. "I had a sudden lapse of concentration."

"Any more of them later on, and you can guarantee that we'll get detention for at least until graduation," I replied, granting him with a little smile so as to tell him that he was forgiven.

Even though I still didn't understand how the best potioneer in the year could completely screw up a potion just because of a 'lapse of concentration'.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Malfoy said, giving Ackerley a nasty glare. Luckily he didn't see otherwise Malfoy would've had to say goodbye to all his free time for, you know, the rest of his life. Give or take a couple of afterlives. The bell rang loudly, and the entire class hurried back to their desks to gather their belongings and leave. I swung my bag onto my shoulder.

"I guess I'll see you later then," I said to Malfoy with a bit of a sigh. Another evening lost to something closely resembling detention. This was my worst school year yet!

"Yeah…" he replied, looking a little out of it. Then as I turned around to head out the door, he gently grabbed my wrist. "I am sorry, Weasley. I didn't mean to make you faint or get you a potions assignment."

"Seriously Malfoy, it's alright," I told him, smiling. He let go of my wrist with a small smile and I left the class, joined almost a second later by Tess and Al, both of whom were clutching the other so as not to fall over by the hysterics that were overcoming them.

Real mature.

"What is so funny? The fact that I passed out, or the fact that I just got to spend my evening in the company of Ackerley and Malfoy?" I demanded, as we neared the hall.

"None of that," Al said. "Well, actually, it's kind of related. You see, when you fainted…"

"…Malfoy was just hilarious," Tess continued. I raised my eyebrows, in an indication that I wanted to know more. After all, I wanted to know what the hell Malfoy had said to reduce these two to laughing gibbering wrecks.

"Ok, so picture this," Al added. "You're passed out, sprawled all over the floor. Ackerley is telling Malfoy off for being a complete idiot…"

"Too right, I mean, even _Wood_ would've known not to add that much scurvy grass and that is saying something, because Wood is as thick as two short planks," Tess interjected.

"…yeah…so then Malfoy looks up at Ackerley and goes, 'Is she dead?'" Al chuckled a bit more at this.

"Then," Tess continued, "Ackerley goes 'Do you want her to be dead? Because if she is, you've killed her through your own idiocy!'"

"Woah! That's kind of mean on Ackerley's part!" I said, sounding shocked that Ackerley could be that heartless. I mean, I always knew that Ackerley had like a pumping metal device for a heart, but telling one student that they're stupidity has killed another student, without batting an eyelid, is a tad harsh.

"So Malfoy is sitting there, practically crying his eyes out!" Al said, bursting into laughter. My jaw dropped the slightest amount, an indication of my surprise which Al picked up on. "I know! A _Malfoy_! Crying! I'm _soo_ writing to Uncle Ron about this!"

"That probably wouldn't be particularly advisable," came a voice from behind us, which I recognized immediately as my younger cousin Lily. Her eyes were wide with that look suggesting she has picked up some marvelous gossip, so I had no doubt that she had heard the details of this scene unraveling as well. "Uncle Ron would murder Malfoy for trying to murder Rose…"

"He didn't try to _murder_ me," I said, defending Malfoy. Al's attention snapped to me, and he smirked ever so slightly. "What?" I said upon catching the look on his face. "I know he's kind of…"

"Evil, cruel, callous, malicious…" Tess piped up, though by the smirk she was sporting and the words she was using (words that I'd used to describe Malfoy since he started ignoring me back in fourth year) that she was somewhat amused.

"I was going to say, um…Slytherin-ey," I said pointedly, unable to conceal the slight smile that was beginning to form on my face.

"Yeah, because _that's_ a word," Al interjected sarcastically.

"I was! Anyway, just because he's very Slytherin-ey-" Al snorted. "Doesn't mean he would _murder _me. He told me he had just had a 'lapse of concentration'." I said, curling my fingers into speech-marks to emphasize what he had said.

"_Lapse of concentration?_" Tess repeated, crinkling her nose. "What a pathetic excuse. He was probably just distracted by the fact that your skirt is two inches shorter today than it has ever been."

"It is?" I asked, I looked down at my skirt. I didn't remember it being shorter this morning when I put it on.

"Yeah, I charmed it to be shorter when you came down to breakfast," she admitted.

"What?"

"Well, it's always really long, like practically floor length. Do you want everyone to think you're a nun or something?" Tess said. "Anyway, it's not like it's that short. It's still about a foot longer then mine."

"I guess…" I admitted, after all, I couldn't be too mad at her, it was still fairly long, ending just above my knee.

"I'm forgiven then?" she asked, sheepishly grinning at me.

"Yeah, I suppose so," I replied, bashfully, before giving her a gigantic grin as we reached the hall.

**

"Can I trust you not to poison your partner again?" Ackerley asked, ten minutes into making our potion again that evening. We had been practically silent up till now, because every time one of us spoke, whether to ask the other one to go fetch an ingredient or to take over stirring the potion, he had threatened us with punishment.

It's not particularly hard to believe that he is head of Slytherin.

"Yes, I think you can, sir," Malfoy replied, grinning slightly in spite of himself. I smiled slightly at his grin, because contrary to what I wanted to think of it, I found it amazing. It kind of lit up his entire face, and his eyes sort of glittered. I had noticed it back when we went to DADA club, but since this was one of the first times I'd seen him genuinely grinning since then I had forgotten how amazing it was.

Stop thinking about his smile, Rose! STOP!

"In that case, I shall leave you and return in half an hour, by which time your potion should be roughly at the half way stage," Ackerley said, giving us a look that clearly said 'If you do anything while I'm gone, I will happily murder you'.

"Yes, sir," I muttered back, and he swept from the room with one last sneer.

"Thank God he's gone," Malfoy muttered, sounding relieved as he stirred the potion again. "I was getting seriously bored, and we'd only been here ten minutes."

"I hate him so much," I replied, reaching for a jar. "At this rate, we're not going to be done until about 10'o'clock, which is past curfew. So if we get caught by a prefect, we could get _another_ detention."

"Yeah, but you _are_ a prefect, so you can just pretend you're on patrol or something," Malfoy replied, gracing me with another smile.

My innards melted like butter. Damn his smile!

Then suddenly a thought occurred to me.

"I'm a prefect," I muttered suddenly. Then I clasped a hand to my mouth.

"I know, I just said that," Malfoy said, looking faintly amused.

"I'm on patrol _tonight_," I said, remembering. "Wood is going to kill me. He has like an aversion to patrolling."

"I'll protect you," Malfoy joked with a wide grin. "After all, no one would dare cross the mighty Malfoy!" He held out his glass rod that he was using the stir his potion like an imaginary sword.

"How _Gryffindor_ of you!" I replied, chuckling slightly. "Braving all to my rescue!" I felt a little bad about abandoning Wood on the patrol, but hanging out in a Potions detention with Malfoy was way more fun.

Malfoy.

Fun.

They are two words that I didn't think would ever featuring in the same sentence again. Well, certainly not without a negative in between them.

"You probably won't need that much help anyway. I mean, what's he gonna do? Turn you into a mirror?" Malfoy said, snorting with laughter at his own joke.

"Just because _you_ would do that, doesn't mean he's that unoriginal," I replied, grinning, despite myself.

"Come on, Rose, he's the epitome of narcissism," Malfoy grinned back. "He would date himself if that was possible."

"That's not saying much really, I mean, _you_ would date yourself if that was possible," I replied, raising my eyebrows and smirking at him.

"What can I say? I'm perfection," he replied with a grin. "Anyway, I'm not as bad as him at any rate."  
"You're not so different, I mean, you, like him, have dated pretty much every single girl in our year," I said, suddenly overwhelmed by a small twinge of jealousy. Where did _that_ come from?  
"Not for the same reasons," Malfoy replied, suddenly quite serious, though a tiny smirk still playing at the corner of his mouth. "He dates them because he _can_. You know, to show off."

"And you don't?"

For some reason, I was extremely interested in the answer. I looked up from the liquid I was measuring out.

"Well, no. Girl's aren't really prizes to me…More…distractions, I suppose," he replied. And if that wasn't cryptic then I have no idea what is.

"Meaning?" I pressed, confused as to why he would refer to his various girlfriends as 'distractions'.

"Meaning, I'm just waiting for the right girl," he replied, then his slightly serious face broke into a smirk, lightening the atmosphere. "I need to get some practice in before I meet Miss Right."

I chuckled slightly, and returned to measuring out the liquid from the flask I had in my hand. Once I had exactly the right amount, I stood on my tiptoes and slowly poured it in whilst Malfoy stirred the mixture. The last drop had just gone in, and I looked up at him to find him looking back at me. Our eyes locked for several seconds, before we both dragged our gaze away at the same time and he coughed loudly.

"I better go get…um…the next ingredient," he muttered, jumping off his stool and hurrying into the store cupboard. I watched his retreating blonde head for a second, my heart beating twice as fast than is probably healthy and then looked down at the instructions.

_Step 9: Add the Poghtree Juice and stir counter-clockwise for ten minutes._

_Step 10: Mix in 3 spoons of powdered Yarrow root._

Right next to the book on the table was a small container of Yarrow Root that had been powdered. Malfoy returned a second later, his face an abnormally pink colour.

"I…uh…think I already got it out," he said with a wide grin. I smiled back, trying to ignore the butterflies that were currently doing some sort of loop-the-loop in my stomach.

**I know, it is kind of short, but it's a bit of a filler before the next chapter where the Cannon's Party begins. Let me know what you think, by clicking that little button and dropping a review. It only takes like a second =]**

**G x xx**


	17. Hello, confusion!

**SEVENTEEN**

"_Where_ have you been?" Tess demanded after I came up from a late lunch the next day.

Aka. Saturday.

Aka. The day of the Cannon's thingy. Which I was slightly regretting signing up for. I mean, granted it might be quite fun, but the chances of us getting caught were extremely high, what with Professor Ackerley being in charge of Entrance Hall patrol (I found this exciting fact out, as I am a prefect).

"I've been _eating_," I told her, kicking off my shoes and landing with a thump on the end of her bed. She clicked her tongue and glared at me, with her arms folded. "What?"

"You do realise that we have exactly _5 hours_ until the start of the Halloween dance thing at 7, which means we have _5 hours _to get ready," she told me waving her hands around in some sort of panicked gesture. God knows why she was doing that. I mean – 5 hours? How long does it take someone to put on a dress?!

"Excellent," I told her, rubbing my hands together, "I might just be able to make a start on my Charms essay." I grinned at her, and she gave me such a disapproving look that I almost mistook her for Professor McGonagall for a moment.

"You are _not_ going to start writing a bloody CHARMS ESSAY, when we have to get ready!" she practically screeched, jumping off her bed and running an apparently panicked hand through her long blonde hair.

"Tess," I said to her calmly, holding her by the shoulders, "5 hours is a very long time. So you can stop panicking like it's the end of the world."

"But…but…"

"Listen, we'll go sit in the common room and laugh at Al being beaten at chess by Hugo again, then in about two hours we can come back and you can have a shower…ok?" I said, as she took deep breaths. I suppressed a giggle at the fact that she was getting so worked up over a stupid Quidditch match.

"Yes…yes…ok," she muttered, as I lead the way downstairs to the common room. We wandered over to Hugo and Al who were currently engaged in a match of chess. Al was surveying the board with groans at intermittent intervals as he became increasingly annoyed at Hugo's ability to put his King in check every move.

"Knight to F8," I whispered in Al's ear as Tess sat down on the sofa still calming down. Al rewarded me with a giant grin.

"Knight to F8!" he said loudly and confidently, and his knight shuffled across the board to F8. "Hold on…" Al said, looking down at the board amazed, "I think that's checkmate!"

Hugo sat up quickly and choked loudly on air. He had been so confident of a win that he hadn't even been paying attention to the game and had been talking to one of his friends whilst Al was contemplating which move to make. "WHAT? That's impossible!" he yelled, leaning forward and examining the position of his King. "WHAT?! How can this have happened?!" Hugo clutched his hands to his cheeks as his eyes darted across the board in horror.

Suffice to say, Al was looking beyond amused.

"This is almost worthy of an article in the Prophet," Al said with a grin as Hugo stared in horror at the board. "I can picture the title now, _Handsome, talented Potter beats Chess genius Hugo Weasley_!" Al leant back in his chair, a satisfied grin seeping over his face.

"More like _Brain dead challenger gets help to beat Chess genius,_" I said, but Al clamped his hand over my mouth before Hugo could register what I'd said.

"Can I talk to you for a second, Rose?" he asked, in a mock-sweet tone. I peered over at Hugo, who had averted his attention from the game that he lost to Al grimacing at me. Hugo raised an eyebrow in an extremely Slytherin-esque manner.

"Well, actually, I better-" I began, but was cut off by Al leaping up and hauling me up. "-I better be going with you," I amended, and Al rolled his eyes. He half-dragged me out of the common room into the hallway outside.

"Please tell me this is not about your stupid chess game," I said as Al finally let go of my arm.  
"No…I just needed to talk to you, and that seemed like a perfect time as it meant that Hugo remains distraught," Al said, grinning despite himself at the memory of Hugo losing his first match to the worst chess-player in our family. That's Al by the way. Even thought Al actually cheated. But, whatever.

"Is this about Tess?" I guessed. Al twitched violently, and almost fell over. I snorted.

He coughed loudly. "No. Of course not. Why would this be about Tess? I mean, not everything is about Tess…Can I not want to talk to my dear cousin Rose without having to talk about Te-"

"Ok, I get the point," I grinned back. He fell silent.

"Well, OK, maybe it is about Tess," he said, his gaze falling to the floor as he was embarrassed to admit it.

"HA! I knew it!" I grinned at him. "So, what is it?"

Al took a deep breath. "I think that maybe…that I might…you know…_like _her."

"Like, duh!"

Al looked taken aback. "You knew?"

"Merlin, Al, no one's that unobservant! Even Hugo would've been able to tell you liked her if he was in my position," I said, feeling extremely happy for Tess that Al definitely liked her back. "Why are you telling me anyway? Shouldn't you be telling her?"

His eyes became as wide as saucers. Honestly! You'd have thought I suggested that he run into the forbidden forest with a huge sign saying: PLEASE EAT ME, BEASTS! "I couldn't possibly do that."

"Yes, you could."

"No, I couldn't. She'd laugh at me," he said, looking very worried.

"No she wouldn't, and if she did I'd slap her," I reassured him.

"You'd do that for me," Al said, looking amazed.

"No, of course I wouldn't slap her, because she's not going to laugh at you," I said. "Just go and tell her."

"NO!"

"YES! Listen, walk into that common room right now and tell her you like her," I said, authoritatively. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"She could reject me. Then I would end up having to marry _Miranda_ or someone equally revolting. Then I would have revolting kids and my dad wouldn't be proud of me, so he'd kick me out the house and I'd have to live on the street and eat rats to stay alive," Al replied. We both fell silent for a second, then at the same time, we caught each others eyes and fell about laughing.

"Right," I said, after I'd recovered from my laughing fit, "Here is the plan."

"I don't trust your plan," Al interjected.

"It can't be worse than any plan you've come up with," I reminded him with a grin and he shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "OK, so in a second you are going to walk in there, and just tell her."

"What? Just like that? Like, 'Oh hey, Tess, have you done the Charms? Oh, and by the way, I've been in love with you since I was about 12'?" Al demanded. Then turned bright red.

"You're in LOVE with her?" I asked astonished. How could I have not picked this up earlier? "Scratch that, you've been in love with her since you were TWELVE?"

Al gulped. "I know. It sucks." He looked a little crestfallen.

'It sucks'? That's all he could say about the fact that he had been in LOVE with my best female friend for FOUR YEARS? 'It sucks'?! I mean, I always knew that he wasn't the most eloquent of people, but how could he not see that this situation actually does NOT 'suck'.

Although I have no idea what on earth Tess sees in my idiot cousin, any fool can see that they are practically perfect for each other.

I'm going to have to talk to Uncle Harry about what happens when your two best friends fall in love with each other.

I slapped Al around the face. "What was that for!?" he asked, with his hand on his cheek.

"That is for you being a moron!" I told him, then I pointed perilously towards the common room door, "Get in there, and TELL HER!"

"You go girl!" an old man in one of the paintings on the wall piped up.

"You sure?" Al verified, still a little worried.

"Go NOW, or I'll tell her that you slept with your teddy until you were 14," I grinned back, and Al, spurred on by my threat to tell her this secret, took a deep breath and hurried through the portrait hole. I followed right behind him. There was no way I was going to miss this.

"Uh, Tess, can I talk to you?" Al asked, with a face that clearly said he did not want to be there. Tess stood up.

"Sure."

"Uh…" Al said. Not a great beginning to be honest. Just as he was about to open his mouth again, an extremely sneaky thought crossed my mind. I whipped out my wand, with a smirk to rival that of a Slytherin's, and muttered 'Sonorus' pointing it at his throat. "I LOVE YOU!" Al shouted (unintentionally). Every single head in the common room turned to look at him. His gulp of terror was magnified ten-fold by the sonorus charm.

"Really?" Tess said, blinking rapidly up at him. He nodded and she grinned in reply. "Wow!"

Al smiled so widely, I thought his face might break, then he leant down and kissed her.

"GET A ROOM!" Hugo shouted, still sore from his loss.

"With pleasure," Al said, and he muttered 'quietus' and pointed his wand at his throat.

"Ewww!" Hugo replied.

*

"Let's hurry up, Rose!" Tess squealed at me, as she practically danced around the room in her beautiful purple dress. If this is what love does to you, then I'm worried about my sanity if I ever fall in love. Tess had been dancing around since she'd turned up in our dorm at about 4 ready to get ready for the dance.

I was wise enough not to press her for details about her whereabouts. I mean, it was fairly obvious she was with my cousin, and I do not particularly want to hear any intimate details about his kissing style etc. like she normally gives me when she returns from a date.

I mean, Ewww.

"I'm ready!" I replied, shoving my left shoe on my right foot. I was getting extremely unco-ordinated the more Tess panicked me. "Hold on!" I added, realising that the left shoe was not going to fit the right foot and putting it on my left where it was supposed to go. I slipped on the right shoe and got up, flicking a piece of hair out of my eyes. "I'm officially ready now." I walked over to where she was busy cramming an extra-ordinary number of lipglosses into a tiny clutch bag. She clicked the bag shut and stood up.

"Blimey, you're tall!" I squealed. She was normally a good 4 inches taller than me anyway, but due to the fact that she was wearing a giant pair of heels, and I decided to give them a miss seeing as I wasn't the most steady person on heels, she was now towering over me.

She grinned, then squealed. "I'm so excited!"

"I know, now, let's go down to the hall and find Al," I said. We were already running about 2 minutes late (presumably the ball had just started. And Tess and Al had to escape in the first ten minutes if they wanted to catch the start of the game.

We hurried down the stairs, Tess surprisingly quickly for someone wearing huge stilettos, and skidded into the Great Hall which had been decorated in black streamers with giant pumpkins placed all the way round the hall.

"Tess!" I heard Al announce, and I caught a flash of black as he skidded over to us wearing a smart suit. Before I even had a chance to say hello, he had locked lips with Tess.

"Err…hello? You have to leave in about two minutes," I said, prodding Tess's arm, with my eyes shut so as not to have my mental health damaged.

"Oh yeah," they said, pulling apart.

"It's safe to look now," Tess chuckled, and I opened my eyes. "Ok, we're off anyway. I'll see you later, Rose!"

I grinned at them both, "Have fun at the game! I'll see you soon!"

They hurried off and ducked behind a group of seventh years assembling by the door.

"Where's Tess going?" I heard a deep voice from behind me, sounding quite surprised. I span around and found myself face-to-face with Max Wood. Well, not really face to face as I was so short.

"Uh…"I said, my mind working as quickly as possible to come up with a plausible explanation. We had not gone through this possibility in the plan!

At that moment, Malfoy suddenly appeared, flanked by Zabini and Nott, who Miranda was entwined around. "Have Taylor and Potter already gone?" Malfoy asked, peering round the hall to try and see their heads.

"Gone where?" Wood demanded.

"The cannons game, of course," Malfoy said, looking confused that Wood didn't know what was going on. I smacked my palm to my forehead. "Why? Isn't he allowed to know?" Malfoy said, regarding my face clutching worriedly.

"She's gone to the _Cannon's Game_?" Wood repeated. "What?" He looked positively murderous. "You better take me, you Slytherin slime."

"You can't go, we have no more tickets," I piped up. And then to add to my misfortune, Pucey arrived having heard what I said.

"Oh, I'm not going any more, so you can have mine if you want, Wood," Pucey said, holding a ticket out to Wood who grabbed it and then clutched it to his chest as though it was his first born son.

"You're not coming with us," I added. "Even if you do have a ticket."

"You can't stop me!" he said dramatically. I groaned. Oh God. Tess was going to skewer me for letting Wood go to the match. "And anyway, you're showing me how to get there. We better get going."

"Uh, no –" I began as Wood grasped my arm and started directing me out of the hall.

"Hold it there," Malfoy said, pulling me out of Wood's grasp. "We'll all go. We can use the fireplace in Professor Ackerley's office."

That sounds somewhat risky.

Unfortunately, I could not complain about the situation, for about five minutes later I was confronted with a pot of floo powder and a fire that was still glowing green from where Miranda and Nott had flooed seconds ago. I clutched a handful of the powder and clambered in the fireplace. "_Manchester Quidditch Stadium,"_ I said clearly, and a sooty second later I had shot out of the fireplace covered from head to toe in black soot. Oh dear. My hair was absolutely covered in it. I took out the bun Tess had given me and shook my head. Most of the soot came out and, glancing in the mirror next to the information desk, I was no longer looking like I had aged about 50 years.

"Let's get in," Wood said, standing up and dusting himself down. Malfoy then shot out of the fireplace, and somehow, had managed to not get a single speck of dust on his suit. "No rush, Wood."

"Yes. There is," he said through gritted teeth. We showed our tickets to the elf at the reception desk, and he held up a tray of drinks.

"Complimentary for the VIP seat tickets," he squeaked. VIP?

"That'll be my dad who got those," Malfoy said, eyeing the drinks with distaste, and carrying on past them. I grabbed a drink (a pink one) and hurried after him. The match had just started. He peered down at me, and as I looked up into his grey-blue eyes, I felt a lurch in the region of my stomach, and my heart began to kind of tingle. He smiled slightly at me, and I smiled back, blushing.

"ROSE?! You're early!" Al said, appearing out of a door on our left that were obviously the men's toilets. "Oh! A drink…" He grabbed the glass out of my left hand and gulped from it. "Lovely!" He grinned, then he turned slightly pink and frowned slightly. "Weird aftertaste."

"Scorpius!" I heard a cry from behind us. Malfoy spun around and was confronted by a panting Zabini, who was closely followed by a red-faced Nott who came screeching next to halt next to him.

"Scorpius…I think…I think I love you!" Zabini gasped out.

Malfoy and I exchanged a wide eyed look. "What. The-" Malfoy began but was interrupted by Miranda.

"NOTT! I HATE YOU! HOW COULD YOU BREAK UP WITH ME NOW?!" she screeched, grabbing Nott's arm, who batted her away.

"I love Rose now," he said, and I turned my head to him to find that he was gazing dreamily at me.

What.

The.

Hell?

**Soooo….Al and Tess are **_**finally **_**together! And the Cannon's party is here! And so is all the drama! In case you're wondering, Nott and Zabini aren't really acting of their own accord, to say the least… HINT: It has something do with the drinks =]**

**Anyway, sorry for the late update…I feel absolutely terrible for making you wait this long! Thank you so much for your reviews! They are all so kind.**

**Let me know what you think about this chapter in a review =]**

**G – XxXx**


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